We Have Always Done It That Way

Marcus Buckingham has written extensively about how leveraging the strengths of your employees delivers dramatically better results than remediating their weaknesses. However, part of what comes with that power is finding a strength in your staff that they are passionate about. Here are a few questions, including a few follow-ups, that you can ask to get at that passion:

• If you could do anything you wanted here, what would you do?
• What do you want to be doing in five years?
• What would keep you here three more years?

These follow-up questions will work for any of the above to help you dig a little deeper and then tie it back to how you can leverage that passion:

• What are the steps you need to take to get there?
• Let’s talk about how we can work some of those things into your job and help you to reach your goal.

The key is that you have to be earnestly interested in helping them to achieve these things and be frank when you can’t. Staff will immediately sense lip service, so don’t bother if you don’t mean it.

Tags: Leadership, Professional Development, Staff Issues, We've Always Done It That Way // Add Comment »