Q11: In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
Help Me Review My Contributions: Employees need to understand how they are doing, how their work is perceived and where their work is heading.
Managers, try this now: As a Manager, ask yourself, “How do I lead conversations about progress? Do I lead with positive intent and emphasize what an employee is doing well, or do I tend to focus only on weaknesses?”
Action Tools
Engaging Conversations: Progress
You can’t move forward if you don’t even know where you are located on a path. Likewise, for an employee to develop, he or she must first understand his or her progression. This understanding helps motivate employees to move forward and allows for redirection, if necessary. Great managers know this and are sure to ask their employees about their progress often.
Questions like the ones listed below help employees feel like someone is helping them navigate their professional career:
- What were our team’s greatest accomplishments this past year?
- How do you think we are doing as a team? Where do we excel? Where do we need some help?
- What topics should our team address at our midyear review?
- How do we determine if we are successful?
- How often should we get together as a group to talk about progress?
- What have been your greatest accomplishments this past year?
- Tell me about your past three months here. How about the past six months? The past year? Where have you been, where are you now, and where do you want to go?
- How often should we get together to talk about your progress?
Originally produced by Gallup. Adapted with permission.
COIN Feedback Conversation Model
The COIN Conversation Model is a simple framework that you can use to plan and structure constructive feedback conversations in a non-confrontational way.
Context: The circumstances, event or issue that you want to discuss
Observation: Specific, factual descriptions of what you saw
Impact: How the event or issue that you’re discussing affects others in your team or organization
Next Steps: A clear agreement on the changes or improvement in behavior and performance that you can expect going forward.
The Coin Conversation Model- Communication Skills from MindTools.com.
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/COIN.htm
More Q11 resources
When a manager regularly checks in with their employees’ progress, team members are more likely to believe that they get paid fairly, more likely to stay with a company, less likely to have accidents, and more than twice as likely to recommend the company to others as a great place to work.”
- Gallup
Three Attributes of Effective Performance Feedback
Focus on improving strengths and managing weaknesses
Ensure that your employees' workplace needs are met
oriented
Concentrate on making sure that performance outcomes are clear and objective
