Walkabouts
“Walkabouts” can be used as a more informal avenue to dialogue with staff. As the name suggests, these are one-on-one conversations that occur outside of the usual settings of the office between a manager and a staff member. The walkabout may be walking to the vending machines in a large building, walking around to a nearby coffee shop or walking around the neighborhood. Leaving the confines of the office helps to focus on the conversation, which should be an open ended dialogue, with parties asking questions, answering and listening.
General conversation starters about work can follow this format:
- What is going well?
- What isn’t going well?
- What is on target?
These three questions are easy to remember and surprisingly effective in identifying issues that may not be readily identified as important information.
It is possible to utilize these questions in a normal setting, but changing the setting–such as getting out of chair and walking around to have a conversation, (“walkabout”)–can help participants relax and have a more casual conversation.
“What is going well?” is a question that is applicable to almost everyone. The question will certainly generate some chaff, such as, “I got a new dog,” “My cold is better,” and “I saw a great movie last night.” “What is going well?” also naturally gives way to “What isn’t going well?” This will also give way to some extraneous chatter–“My dog died,” “My knee hurts,” and “I wasted $15 on a bad movie last night.” The key to these two questions is that EVERYONE can respond to them. Some individuals may need some lead time to generate their responses, but everyone has something going well and not so well.
Inside the chatter, individuals will almost naturally touch upon work related issues. Removing the work focus from the conversation helps the individual to remove other filters from the conversation, including what the individual thinks the manager expects to hear, what the individual thinks is important, and what the individual feels comfortable addressing. It is critical that the manager is actively listening to the individual’s responses, even if they are unrelated to work. Otherwise, the conversation becomes false to the individual and the manager seems insincere.
A sincere conversation, however, can be steered by the manager towards work, which is represented by the third question, “What is on target?” The “target” can be job functions, staff objectives or personal goals. The answers to the “well” and “not well” questions may lead into an on-target question, e.g. “Does the pain in your knee make it difficult to greet customers when they come in?” The manager may also have to “shift gears” to the targets with a transition, such as, “I’d like to spend a little time talking about the issues identified in the meeting last week…”
When managers “open up” conversations with employees, it is imperative that they actual LISTEN. Some managers believe that simply asking for employee input is enough, but this is often as lampooned by employees more than not asking, (painful, but true). If a manager opens that door, they have to go through it. Otherwise, the result is the infamous manager in Office Space who asks, “What’s happening?” and then goes on to ramble about TPS coversheets without any regard for the employee’s response.
Walkabouts should help managers engage staff, establish rapport and elicit relevant information. The three questions can be used with both individuals and small groups to open up dialogue and allow the manager to gain a better understanding of everyone’s perspective to check alignment with the organization’s objectives.