Don’t wait a year to have those important conversations!
January 26, 2009
In my organisation we’ve been carrying out annual appraisals over the last few weeks, and I would say that overall the process has been a success. Managers have had very informative conversations with their members of staff, and have been able to better understand their concerns, ideas and future aims as a result. For more than one employee, the appraisal has been an extremely positive event, because they have finally been able to air their issues and explain what is making them unhappy in work – and as a result a clear action plan has been developed to resolve these problems which will have a positive effect on the employee’s job satisfaction, and will ultimately help to retain those important members of staff, some of whom have openly admitted that they have considered changing their job in recent months.
Whilst I am really pleased with the outcomes of the appraisals, and I feel that many people’s futures will be better because of the open conversations that have taken place, I am disappointed that valued employees have had to wait for a number of months before being able to voice their concerns and find a resolution. I wonder how many leavers we could have saved in the last year if we had made more of an effort to ask them how they are feeling and listen to their concerns on a more regular basis than an annual appraisal?
It might sound silly saying all this, but I bet that in many organisations employees go a long time without having the important conversations with their line managers; there’s a difference between speaking to someone every day and giving them the opportunity to discuss their overall happiness and job satisfaction. There are different types of people of course – some people don’t have a problem approaching their manager without being asked if they have a concern, others will sit back and keep all their worries in, whilst feeling that the company does not care about how they are doing – and these are the people companies will eventually lose.
So basically the message is this: managers need to take more time to speak to their staff at regular intervals, and not just once a year in the annual appraisals. The key is listening to (and not simply ‘hearing’) what the employee has to say and acting on anything that may be negatively impacting on the employee’s job satisfaction or ability to achieve their job effectively. It’s simple stuff but will make a huge difference in the workplace.
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