Leadership Skills in the Workplace

Performance Conversations

LEADERSHIP BRIEFS

15 Performance Conversations

Objective

Learn a simple way to improve trust and performance in your department

Lesson

One of the most important responsibilities of any manager at any level is building the competency and confidence of his or her staff. Regular performance conversations with each staff member are an essential element of this process.

Some managers may believe that regular conversations about projects and tasks are “performance conversations.” They are not.

Many mangers claim they don’t have to time to do regular individual meetings; if you are focused only on short-term goals, that may be true. Shouldn’t your focus be more long-term?

Other managers admit they only have such frequent performance conversations with a problem employee who is undergoing disciplinary action.

A few managers will even admit they don’t know how to conduct such a conversation and fear the reaction of their employees.

You probably talk to your employees regularly on the status of a project or to problem-solve on some issue. But what you also need to talk about regularly is their performance: how are they doing, what challenges are they having, where are the opportunities for growth?

In addition, you probably have regular staff meetings to share information and discuss common concerns. However, you need to make time to address individual concerns.

A private meeting is the place to discuss the person’s performance. Even if you maintain an open door policy, it will not serve the same purpose as the private one-to-one performance conversation. Employees are frequently reluctant to approach.

Monthly conversations are essential. Bi-weekly or weekly conversations are even better. If you have not been conducting such conversations regularly, announce to your staff that you will be doing individual conversations more frequently. Schedule appointments at that time with each person for the first such conversation in your new series.

As everyone begins to think of this type of frequent conversation as the new “normal,” they will be less nervous and self-conscious: productive insight will increasingly take place for both you and your employee.

Here are some conversation starters:

Tell me what challenges you are dealing with in regard to ________ (some current work assignment). Follow up question: how can I assist you?

If you were in charge, how would you evaluate the work you are doing now? Engage in dialog with the employee, giving your own assessment and feedback.

What would help you move to the next level in your performance?

How can I improve in my leadership? Seek genuine feedback on your own performance.Don’t get defensive even if you disagree with the feedback. Just listen and thank your employee for sharing. Do not seek to retaliate in any way for non-flattering comments.

These are the conversations that build capacity in your employees. These conversations build the ability to be self-reflective. Your employee will soon begin to evaluate and adjust his or her own performance as you build this regular expectation.

These conversations also build trust. By having the full attention of the boss for 10 to 30 minutes, the employee knows that he or she matters. When the manager asks for and receives feedback without striking out or taking later action against the employee, this builds trust and loyalty.

To fulfill your job responsibility of developing your employees, use regular and frequent performance conversations.

Questions for Group Discussion

1. How often do you have performance conversations?
   

2. How could you adopt these ideas in your own management position? What challenges would you have? What do you think would be the long-term outcome in your situation?

Suggested Activity

Have performance conversations with each member of your staff before your next meeting with this group. Be prepared to share with your colleagues how it went.

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