Fierce Conversations for Supervisors

February 09, 2006

 

For a good supervisor, fierce conversations are especially critical.

Performance problems unaddressed rarely fix themselves. I’ve learned that the hard way. The most important fierce conversations a supervisor has are not ones where s/he complains about a junior’s strengths and weaknesses. Rather, Susan Scott writes, the most important fierce conversations are the ones in which the manager looks at his or her junior and asks, “What is the most important thing you and I should talk about?” and then listens.

To be honest, if my first boss had called me into his office and asked me that question, I suspect I would have responded with a confused look. If he had persisted, however, and said, “Mary, you’re important to this group. We need to know how we can best support each other,” I would have brought up my biggest concern right away. More importantly, when a problem eventually arose—and they always do—I would have felt comfortable raising the issue immediately instead of letting it fester.

For most supervisors, the hardest part of conducting a fierce conversation may be making the commitment to allow the junior to speak uninterrupted. If you wish to fully encourage the person you supervise to explore his or her thoughts and feelings, talk as little as you can. Don’t cancel meetings, allow interruptions or run out of time. Your goal throughout this conversation is to demonstrate that you are deeply committed to exploring and understanding the concerns of the person who reports to you.

Susan Scott recommends that you hold fierce conversations with new employees often, as often as every week, and with proven performers less frequently, but certainly every month.

Gain a junior’s trust one fierce conversation at a time, and that junior may become your star performer yet. 


 




 



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