Introduction to Conversations

What is an engagement conversation?

Engagement conversations are individualized discussions between a manager and employee focused on key motivators and obstacles preventing the employee from doing their best work. They help managers to better understand and reinforce employee’s motivations and address retention risks early and proactively. Engagement conversations help build trust with employees as they feel valued and heard. They also allow leaders to uncover org-wide themes that may be getting in the way of team effectiveness.

The goal of engagement conversations is to:

1
Better understand and reinforce an employee’s motivations.
2
Address retention risks early and proactively.
3
Uncover what may be getting in the way of employees delivering results and growing professionally.

Why should managers conduct engagement conversations?

Help develop and retain your employees (Hire and Develop the Best)Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice..
Create a place where builders can build by identifying and addressing obstacles employees may be facing.
Help drive our mission to be Earth’s most customer centric company by increasing employee engagement, productivity and innovation.
Ensuring employees feel valued and heard by increasing managers' ability to engage with employees.

Why do we need dedicated time?

Though regular 1:1s may be occurring, they’re often focused on time sensitive topics such as product launch deliverables, document reviews, OP1 planning, or talent review preparation.

Engagement conversations ensure managers and employees are discussing important factors such as professional development, career growth, motivations, work life fit, and obstacles they may be facing.

Common roadblocks that prevent engagement conversations from happening:

Manager:
“I have every intention of checking in with my employees about their overall work experience and job satisfaction but we always seem to get sidetracked by product launch deliverables.”

Manager:
“I am hesitant to initiate these types of conversations because I’m not confident that I’ll have a solution to address the employee’s concern.”

Manager:
“Wouldn’t my employee just come to me if they had concerns?”

How often should managers be having engagement conversations?

As a best practice, managers should have engagement conversations with employees on a quarterly basis, however, they may choose to prioritize if their team is:

Growing in size or scope including geographically dispersed employees.

Seeking to understand low or declining Connections scores related to engagement and/or job satisfaction.

Kicking off a new workstream (new product/feature work).

In the next module, we will address potential solutions to common roadblocks, as well as provide you with helpful tips and strategies for having productive engagement conversations.

Resources

Connections Reporting Provides managers with quick visibility into their team's daily Connections responses.