The Language You Use Can Make Such a Huge Difference to Your Recruitment Interviews and Performance Review sessions.
I have this framework that I use for my calls with coaching clients when we’re reviewing what’s worked well and what their objectives are for the future.
It’s really simple and it goes something like this:
Establish what the coaching client wants by asking, “What does success look like to you?”
It’s the SAME for YOUR future and potential employees. Engaging in a conversation on equal footing is incredibly liberating. Here are some of the phrases I suggest you try asking the other person when you’re undertaking your next recruitment interview or performance review:
What does success look like to them in the next 12 months / at the end of the major project?
Then give them time and space to answer
How is their influence doing right now as a result of their leadership? What are they doing at this moment to try and get the success they’ve outlined?
Then give them time and space to answer
What are their roadblocks? What’s standing in their way and preventing them from reaching success.
Then give them time and space to answer
When they’ve answered these sample questions for instance, we’ve now got everything we need to create a plan that will take the business forward, build engagement and strengthen individual belonging to the business.
Whoa! Stop – Did You Catch That?
It’s not about ME taking on another task and designing a plan in isolation and telling them what I expect from them; nor is it about THEM going away, ticking a box, filling in the bullet points and emailing it back in some random kind of fearful way.
You see, everyone wants to feel valued, and ‘enough’ and like they have control over what happens next.
The Poet, William Ernest Henley writes in his Prose “Invictus”,
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” This 18th-century poem was movingly recited by Nelson Mandela during his incarceration on Robben Island Prison.
Napolean Hill contemporised Henley’s wisdom with his words,
Practice Mastering Your Conversations
Helping your colleagues walk confidently in their identity and genuinely experience that they are masters of their own destiny is incredibly empowering – and masterful on your part as the Leader.
Right here, you can see the important role that your language as a leader plays in your recruitment interviews and performance review sessions.
Why Should I Bother to Take this Approach?
If you say “I will do this…” then you’re putting all of the work on your shoulders. You’re basically telling your employee to sit back because you’ve got this for them. They just need to answer some questions and you’ll do the rest. That’s disempowering.
And, hear me out here: you’re making a martyr of yourself by not pacing yourself appropriately.
That’s not how leadership works.
So it’s all about “we”.
“We’re going to run through a framework. Once we’re done, we’ll have what we need to create a plan for this next season. How’s that sound?”
Now your employee is engaged from the start and re-inducted at every performance review (and at regular intervals in between, right because this approach becomes a lifestyle of leadership). They’ll want to be an active participant. This isn’t something that you’re going to do for them or to them.
Success is something that you’re going to work together on to achieve. That’s something community groups do pretty well. It’s what industry, corporate and government can also embrace more intentionally. Less bureaucracy and more human connection.
As a result it’s the little tweaks in your language like this that can take your conversations and your success in your own role from mediocre to masterful.
Watch your leadership language so you can set the right expectations from the start.
Be engaging!
Tarran Deane
P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you grow your leadership influence
-
Amplify Your Influence – Grab a copy of my book
The Alphabet Principle ~ Your A-Z Guide to Being a Compelling Leader for Real Life @ Work” provides 26 Crisp Checklists and easy to read short, core Chapters to help you create deeper connections with colleagues and customers, bridge the internal silos and achieve better commercial outcomes in your business. Order your signed copies when you – Click Here
-
Engage Me or My Team for Training inHouse at Your Location
We’ve launched fresh new training programs where leaders and their people can gain access to strategic and operational professional development workshops for ½ or full day sessions at their place of business or preferred external venue. To view the selection of Training Courses – Click Here
-
Join our “Tea with Tarran” Program and be a part of a Mastermind
I’m putting together a new virtual Mastermind group at TDE – Tarran Deane Education this month… stay tuned for details. If you would like my insights or to work with me on your strategic workforce capability and engagement plans… just send me a message with the words “Mastermind”. * Email me via the Contact Form Click Here OR Schedule a Call when you Click Here
-
Work with me and my #TarranTeam privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from stressed boss to compelling leader … just send me a message and with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your leadership situation and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! * Email me via the Contact Form Click Here OR Schedule a Call when you Click Here