Conversation: A Key Supervisory Tool
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If you're a boss, conversations are your primary tool for conveying and gathering information. Handle them right and outsiders think you get great results effortlessly. Here are a few tips for better conversations at work.
Show up or touch base a lot. You can't have a conversation if you're not with someone. Making contact is your responsibility. The great supervisors I studied all showed up a lot.
A few years ago, I changed that principle from "show up a lot" to "touch base a lot." More and more supervisors had teams that were scattered across geography. They couldn't show up physically, but they could still touch base. They could still have conversations.
Have natural conversations about work and other things. It's your responsibility to make this happen so, what do you talk about?
Talk about something you and a team member have in common. It doesn't have to be big or important. And you don't have to fake it. The odds are that you've got at least one thing in common with everyone on your team. Start with that.
Have conversations about work. Tell people what you expect, then listen for questions and reactions. Conversations are two way.
Have conversations with people about behavior or performance that needs to change. Supervisors list this as the most hated part of their job, but it doesn't need to be.
Learn a pattern that works. I like my Three W's. Tell them What the subject of the conversation will be. Tell them Why it's important. Then Wait for them to talk. That's when you get to the conversation part.
Boss's Bottom Line
Master the tools. Learn to have effective conversations with team members whether it's casual, work-related, or helping to change performance or behavior.
This post is adapted from Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit. The kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Great reminder Wally - I wrote in my last post -'In my view, people learn the most when they are involved in stimulating conversations, when their thinking is ignited by right questions and when they are a part of defining something meaningful.'
Art of leadership is to engage people into meaningful conversations (about work, about methods of doing work, sharing stories, experiences) and people are smart enough to distill key expectations that are common across these conversations. Through conversations, they quickly absorb the lessons too.
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Wow. I think you covered my key points succinctly in that last paragraph. Thanks for a lucid, helpful summary.
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The navy calls it leadership through walking around. Can't talk to anyone if you don't get out from behind your desk...
Great post Wally, thanks again!
Landon Creasy
http://landoncreasy.wordpress.com/
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MBWA is powerful stuff, Landon, but there is some technique to it, as I wrote in my post "How to Wander Effectively." Right now I'm doing a little research on how that plays out for bosses who manage remote teams. Maybe some readers can share experience.
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Excellent, Wally!
And so true and so simple. I cannot tell you how many clients I've worked with that need a nudge to "converse" and then reap huge rewards (and sometimes in their non-work lives as well).
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Thanks, Mary Jo. When you show up/touch base a lot, good things happen. When you also have conversations with your people, even more and even better things happen. As humans, we're wired to connect on many levels and the preferred channel is conversation.
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Touch base a lot -- completely agree. Not only do I schedule regular 1-on-1's with my team, I constantly interact with them live week after week -- in person, via phone, Skype, IM, etc. This kind of communication is critical as long as they get to interact freely.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I think there's a key point there at the end of your comments. It's "as long as they get to interact freely." If they can't, it's not a conversation. And if there's no conversation, there are no benefits. Too many bosses feel compelled to be in charge and in control all the time. That's tiring and ineffective.
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But having conversations is hard. Dan McCarthy just wrote a post about how the soft stuff is hard. Similar thoughts. Good post.
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Thanks for the kind words. Dan's post shared some research results from Right Management. And recently Guy Kawasaki said the same thing about hard stuff and soft stuff in a NY Times Corner Office interview. The article is worth reading in full, but here's the quote from guy that ties in here.
"Maybe it was just my education, but much of education is backwards. You study all the hard stuff, and then you find out in the real world that you don’t use it. As long as you can use an HP 12 calculator or a spreadsheet, you have the finance knowledge that you need for most management positions. I should have taken organizational behavior and social psychology — and maybe abnormal psychology, come to think of it."
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One of my clients has a book called "Juice: the Power of Conversation" that's right in line with what you're saying about touching base with employees. Everyone wants to feel valued, to have their inherent self-worth acknowledged, and simple, frequent conversations are the key starting place. And the great after-effect of these interactions is better teamwork and performance and reduced conflict. The art of conversation is worth mastering!
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Thanks for sharing that, Heath. It's a book I know, but it sounds like one I should get to know.
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Conversations enable ‘Empathy’, a value that enables business owners, supervisors, and team leaders to create great organizations.
But aside from developing “empathy” thru effective conversations, business tools that help develop the values of “Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Risk, Success,” can also help supervisors how to lead their staff to higher-quality performance.
For real life examples of other effective business tools, and leadership behaviors that enable business success, you can refer to Dianne Crampton’s book, “TIGERS Among Us: Winning Business Team Cultures And Why They Thrive.”
Crampton discusses in a clear manner, real life business systems and tools used by successful owners of companies like Zappos, Tribe Inc., 4Refuel, and Dos Gringos to lead effectively and develop winning team cultures.
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Thanks for sharing that resource. Empathy, of course, provides the "E" in your TIGERS acronym. I don't know the book, but I would like to consider it for review.
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Thanks Wally. The book was only published last March and I would like to hear your views on it. New managers and supervisors can benefit from leadership books that are able to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
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Thanks, Celina. I'd love to consider the book for review. I think that working bosses need books that give them an idea of what they can try to improve their odds of success and a framework for evaluating the results.
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Hi Wally,
I agree that conversations are important but do you recommend formal conversations or casual stop-by-chats.
What I suggest is a formal one-to-one manager to employee conversation that may be based on goals and their achievements, plans for the next few months and any challenges being faced by the employee in achieving their objectives.
Based on the feedback received, the manager can work with their employees to understand their problems and challenges, mentor them, guide them to achieve their goals and also reinforce their expectations .
We recommend this kind of formal communication at least once a quarter (if once a month is not possible).
If this communication can be tracked by using automated tools such as Goal Setting and Tracking, Manager Counseling notes, Development Planning etc, it becomes easier to appraise employees as well.
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Thanks for adding that perspective, Tushar. Mine is a little different.
I think that the most important conversations are the frequent and informal chats that should happen several times in the course of a work day. They need to be supplemented with regular, formal chats, but I think once a quarter is far too infrequent. Monthly seems like it will work better with the way human beings seem to be wired.
Personally, I have a strong aversion to the sort of tracking tools you describe. They seem to be used as substitutes for the kind of judgment you need for most assessments of people.
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