Five crucial conversations for mangers as developers

As managers evolve from what can be termed ‘evaluators’ into ‘developers’ Ally Yates, author of Utter Confidence: How what you say and do influences your effectiveness in business, looks at the five crucial conversations they need to have

Becoming a manager is akin to becoming a parent: nothing prepares you for what’s to come. And, just as parenting approaches have changed, so have the theories of management – from an emphasis on the manager as command and control to a focus on employees; these days there’s less micro-management and more empowerment.

The most recent shift in management focus is the move from evaluator to developer; this is because the perceived fear of evaluation interferes with the brain’s capacity to take on new information, resulting in what Dr David Rock refers to as an ‘away-response’ – minimising danger. Development, on the other hand, fosters a ‘toward-response’ – maximising reward.

The key is the nature of the conversations that take place between manager and employee – face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball – and how well the manager brokers employee development aspirations alongside the school’s needs.

The five crucial conversations

The notion of the manager as developer depends on five crucial conversations that pepper the working day, week, month and year:

1. Setting Goals

Goals should provide a focus for developing performance. Too many goals and it’s difficult to prioritise. Too few goals and it can feel like you’re not making progress. It’s important to identify the two to four challenging goals that will have an impact. Learning goals, defined by psychologist Carol Dweck as, ‘goals in which one pursues mastery and growth’ are more motivating than performance goals. Specific goals work better than generalities. Also, the harder the goal, the more it motivates. Wherever possible goals should help employees see ‘what’s in it for them’.

2. Feedback

Feedback is most valuable if it is frequent, balanced and intermittent. Frequent feedback develops people faster because it shortens the performance development cycle. Balanced feedback means that people get the recognition they crave for a job done well, or effort made, as well as constructive comments on how to do better. Intermittent feedback is useful in strengthening desired performance. Think of feedback as a ‘gift’ – if what you want to say to someone isn’t something they’re going to perceive as valuable, then it’s probably more for your benefit, so zip it!

3. Coaching

Coaching is all about helping someone to improve their performance. Managers should be coaching most of the time if they are to achieve the double-header of getting work done through others and developing people. The coaching could be reactive and short-term, focusing on solving a problem or tackling a tricky task. Coaching conversations can also take account of the longer-term job and career development of the individual.

Coaching relies on the manager being able to assess the resourcefulness of the individual through their conversation. Someone who’s struggling may need more direction. A highly-motivated, proactive team member is more likely to both accurately diagnose their needs and identify potential solutions.

If conversations one to three are happening regularly, both the manager and employee know where they’re headed, what help they need and if they’re on track. There are two other conversations that fall to the manager on a less regular basis:

4. Appraisal

This is the year-end review. In an ideal world, this conversation is a mere formality, tying up the threads of conversations that have taken place throughout the year. It’s an opportunity to review and celebrate what went well, providing recognition for a job well done and/or effort applied. It’s also the chance to reflect on what was less successful and why that might be. The purpose of the conversation is to learn and confirm. There should be no surprises.

5. Reward

The fifth and final conversation in the development cycle is reward: pay, bonus and other types of remuneration, e.g. financed study, sabbatical, etc. Reward heavily influences an employee’s sense of fairness – is this reward commensurate with my performance? There’s a much greater chance of alignment if the previous conversations have happened regularly and honestly.

The success of these conversations lies in the manager having skills of inquiry, listening and learning. Regrettably, these skills are in short supply. If the manager acts as judge, pronouncing on an employee’s performance, there’s no conversation. Instead, if the manager leads with questions, exercising curiosity, she’ll engage the employee, discovering much more about him and how best to help.

Darden Professor Ed Hess, in his book: Humility is the New Smart, talks about the importance of listening to learn, not to confirm your existing preconceptions. Actively listening also sends a positive message to employees, that you value them and that you want to understand them.

The skills of inquiry, listening and learning are the conversational skills for smart managers, who can develop staff for now and for the future.

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