essential conversations guidebook v.12 - online version

Essential ConversationsA Guidebook for Managers

How to Conduct Effective, ValuableOne-to-One Meetings with

Your Direct Reports

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………3

THE WHY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….4 – 5

THE HOW…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..6 – 10

Be a Coach……………………………………………………………………………………………………………7

Use Strengths-based language……………………………………………………………...........…….8

Provide not just feedback but also feedforward………………………………………........…..9

Listen……………………………………………………………………………………………………......……...10

Prevent interruptions……………………………………………………………………………...........…10

Leave time to brainstorm………………………………………………………………………..........…10

End with agreement………………………………………………………………………………..........…10

THE WHAT …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11 – 16

Create a regular schedule…………………………………………………………………………….……12

Prepare………………………………………………………………………………………………….………....13Ask good questions……………………………………………………………………………………….…..14

The Tools…………………….……………………………………………………………………………………..15

The Process………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….17 – 27

Infographic: Essential Conversations – Tactics for Success…………….…………….…….19The 15-5 Report…………………………………………………………………………………......…20 – 21

Custom Conversation Guide…………………..……………………….…………………………….…..22

A Manager’s Quick Question Guide for an Essential Conversation.……………….…..23

7 Powerful Questions to Radically Lift an Essential Conversation……………….………24 Strengths Roll-a-Die Exercise……………………………………………………………….…………….25

The Challenge Question Exercise……………………………………..………………………….…….26

Quarterly Conversation Form.….………………………………………………………………………..27

SOURCES……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….28


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Managing a team has never been more complex. Knowledge-based employees are challenging status-quo leadership at every turn. Many of them work from home or are distributed across time-zones, and sometimes across continents. Even at locations where everyone works under one roof, the unique demands of the modern workforce are evolving.

To perform at their best, employees seek purpose and meaning in their work. They want the right mix of challenge and autonomyand crave strong relationships with their managers and colleagues. They need to understand how their work and their results connect to the big picture: our strategy, our corporate goals, and our customers.

How will we retain talent, ensure their happiness and

allow them to do their best work week after week?

Providing meaningful and timely coaching and feedback throughout the year is important to our individual and collective success.One-to-one meetings having meaningful conversations are critical to building relationships and maintaining an open line of communication between you and each of your direct reports. These meetings can serve as a vehicle for monitoring progress on goals, providing developmental feedback, and coaching.

To facilitate a more productive dialogue between employees and their managers, we are transforming our performance management program.

In the talent development world, employee performance is everything. To ensure optimum business results, managers must adept at determining standards of performance, identifying performance gaps, and coaching employees to ensure that any gaps are quickly and appropriately addressed.

In order to be successful managers, we must be effective coaches with the ability to conduct more frequent, meaningful conversations with our employees, ask powerful questions, listen actively, and offer observations. Managers must help employees create shifts in their beliefs and actions that will result in the achievement of desired results. Having these essential conversations is a partnership between the manager, or coach, and the employee, where the main goal is to help the employee develop and contribute to the business.

A regular cadence of essential conversations are based on the premise that, with help, employees can ignite their own potential and achieve or even accelerate their results by discovering solutions for themselves. These frequently scheduled meetings will help people identify their individual aspirations for change, desired results, and solutions and then match those goals with the needs of the business. A successful manager is a partner of employees and teams, helping them to come to their own conclusions, take action, and reach their potential.

This Guide Book is designed to provide you with the Why, the How, and the What to having essential conversations with your direct reports. It’s content explains how to schedule, prepare for, and conduct recurring, productive one-to-one meetings and having essential conversations with your direct reports. The following pages are packed with best practices, job aids, tactical steps, and tools for you to get started.

Introduction


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The WHY…



COMMUNICATIONANDTRUSTManagers canfoster positiverelationshipsand broaden capacity in their teams through communication and genuine understanding which leads to trust. And, trust lies at the heart of strong manager-employee relationships.

ENRICHESCULTUREOrganizational culture drives employee engagement. And employee engagement drives bottom-line results.

TRANSPARENCYEmployee engagement is affected by perceptions of transparency. Regular, authentic, and reciprocal one-to-one communication is a key action for creating transparency that can improve engagement.

CONNECTEDRELATIONSHIPSHaving frequent one-to-one meetings with essential conversations contributes highly to improved communication and trust between managers and employees, which nurtures their relationship.

CONTINUOUSIMPROVEMENTA one-to-one essential conversation has the potential to reinforce company values, strengthen workplace culture, and achieve strategic objectives. Ideally, employees feel respected, invested in the company’s success, and committed to their own learning and development.

PERFORMANCEMANAGEMENT

Regular one-to-one meetings provides opportunities for managers to share performance information, and the employees take ownership of and use the feedback, feel empowered to take action toward performance that is aligned with organizational goals and self-directed development.

The Value ofESSENTIAL

CONVERSATIONS

Managers must also be equipped with the ability and tools to conduct recurring performance conversations with their employees. Three necessary skills that managers must demonstrate during those essential conversations include:

Set reasonable, measurable goals

Identify and recognize praiseworthy behaviors

Focus on enhancing employees’ strengths and not improving their weaknesses



The

WH

Y…

Essential conversations give employees an understanding of where they stand relative to their work so that they can improve, and it gives managers the ability to realign the team. One-to-one meetings require an investment in

time; however, the essential conversations during these meetings are valuable for many reasons.

The HOW…




Be a Coach

manager – [man-i-jer] n.

(1) a person who has control or direction of an institution, business, etc., or of a part, division,or phase of it.

(2) a person who controls and manipulates resources and expenditures, as of a household.

Wow, that sounds scary. Who wants to be controlled or manipulated? Not your employees. The best way to run a team is not view the employees in service to the company, but to view the company in service to its employees.

Given the right structure and environment, people have an incredible innate capacity for learning and growth. But with barelyenough time to get your own tasks completed, you may be tempted to just let challenged employees figure things out for themselves. Employees wither in overly-stressful and unsupportive environments.

Having more frequent one-to-one meetings allow managers to offer their observations and support, and create shifts in employees’thinking.

The ability to help your employees shift their thinking is the

difference between merely having a conversation and having an

essential, coaching conversation.

Provide balanced coaching and developmental feedback based on what you’re hearing in the conversation.Recognize accomplishments and help your direct reports navigate challenging relationships and difficultcircumstances. Help them change their perspective ontheir own situation or their potential for growth.Guide them without giving them all the answers; give them space to reach their own conclusions.


Creating a shift in thinking is the

defining moment of any coaching

conversation, the clarifying

moment when your employee

can see possibilities that weren't

apparent just moments earlier.The

HO

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Use Strengths-based language

When only 25% of your workforce strongly agrees with the statement –“I have an opportunity to do what I do best every day,”

there is an opportunity for managers to make a difference.

Sungard Availability Services has adopted the concept of Strengths-based development. That is, employees should develop and grow those abilities in which they excel and are engaged. These are known as Strengths. All Sungard AS employees will have an opportunity to complete an assessment showcasing their Top 5 Strengths. Managers should support their direct reports as they develop, utilize and leverage these Strengths to achieve success.*

As discussed in the Facilitating Your Strengths class, Managers should:

1. Appreciate and Understand Unique Strengths of individuals

2. Identify Tasks and Activities for the role and individual

3. Invest in Individual Strengths

Return to the Strengths Discovery Discussion Guide to utilize all of the questions shown there, but here are a few key questions:

Which of your Top 5 Strengths and themes resonates with you the most?

How can I help you use that Strength more often?

Tell me about a recent time where you’ve used that Strength successfully? Be specific about how the Strengths influenced your thoughts or actions

Which Strength do you envy/wish you had? Why? Which of your Strengths could “parrot/look like” this Strength?

Which of your Strengths could benefit the team if you had more opportunities to use it?



*Check out the Strengths Roll-a-die Activity

The

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Provide not just feedback but also feedforward

Feedback provides information on how a person performed; it focuses on what a person did in the past. Feedforward provides information on how a person can enhance his/her perform; it focuses on how a person can change for the future.

Marshall Goldsmith, a thought-leader on all things leadership, highlights the concepts saying,

The goal of a one-to-one conversation is to help your direct report reach success. Solely focusing on how he/she performed will not permit growth or development. As a manager you have the ability to reflect on situation and the performance. Your greatest ability is to provide guidance on how your direct report can behave differently to ensure success.

Here are a few reasons why Marshall Goldsmith believes in feedforward as an important tool for managers:

It can be more productive to help people learn to be “right,” than prove they were “wrong.” Negative feedback often becomes an exercise in “let me

prove you were wrong.” Even constructively delivered feedback is

often seen as negative as it necessarily involves a discussion of mistakes,

shortfalls, and problems. Feedforward, on the other hand, is almost always

seen as positive because it focuses on solutions – not problems.

People do not take feedforward as personally as feedback. In theory,

constructive feedback is supposed to “focus on the performance, not the

person”. In practice, almost all feedback is taken personally (no

matter how it is delivered). Feedforward cannot involve a personal

critique, since it is discussing something that has not yet happened! Positive suggestions tend to be seen as

objective advice – personal critiques are often viewed as personal attacks.

Feedforward is especially suited to successful people. Successful people like getting ideas that are aimed at helping them achieve their goals.

Successful people tend to have a very positive self-image. I have observed

many successful executives respond to (and even enjoy) feedforward. I am not

sure that these same people would have had such a positive reaction to

feedback.

Feedforward tends to be much faster and more efficient than feedback. An excellent technique for giving ideas to successful people is to say, “Here are four ideas for the future. Please accept these in the positive spirit that they are given. If you can only use two of the ideas, you are still two ahead. Just ignore what doesn’t make sense for you.”

With this approach almost no time gets wasted on judging the quality of the ideas or “proving that the ideas are wrong”. This “debate” time is usually negative; it can take up a lot of time, and it is often not very productive. By eliminating judgment of the ideas, the process becomes much more positive for the sender, as well as the receiver.

People tend to listen more attentively to feedforward than feedback. Can you

relate to this ? “Normally, when others are speaking, I am so busy composing a reply that will make sure that I sound smart – that I am not fully listening to

what the other person is saying I am just composing my response.” In

feedforward the only reply that you should make is ‘thank you’. Then you

don’t have to worry about composing a clever reply. You focus all of your energy

on listening to the other person!



The

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Listen

Give your direct reports time to respond to the questions, without interruption. Everyone needs time to gather

and finish their thoughts, so don’t interject until the time is right.

The words that employees use are only part of the stories they’re telling. Their gestures, tone of voice, emotions, and even what they are not saying can be equally important. Listen as much to what’s not being said as to what is, and write down any words or phrases that trigger more deeper questions for you. The information andimpressions you gather will lead to more powerful questions and greater observations to share with your employees.

Prevent interruptions

You can demonstrate how important one-to-one time is to you by clearing your desk, locking

your computer, forwarding your desk phone to voicemail, and silencing your cellphone. If you have an office, closing the door is recommended as a way to maintain privacy. If you don’t have an office, consider choosing an alternate location for meetings, such as a conference room.

Leave time to brainstorm

As a partner on this journey to new management practices with your direct reports, you can help brainstorm solutions based on the new insights. These may include offering your observations, suggestions, and support. If so, remember that any suggestion is just that—an idea or a hint, not an answer or a mandate. The purpose of brainstorming is to help employees come to their own conclusions and establish the actions they’ll take. Keep an open mind and stay flexible about what develops as a result of brainstorming solutions.

End with agreement

Never presume that you understand everything an employee tells you, and don’t rely solely on your intuition. As a great manager and coach, check your understanding by summarizing what you heard and sharing your hunches. Ask if your conclusions are correct, and ask for clarification when it’s needed.

There are two very powerful questions on which you can end every meeting:

1.What can I be accountable to you by the next time we meet?

2.What will you be accountable for by the next time we meet?

Both you and your direct report should note what next steps (actions) each of you is responsible for, and include relevant details like ownership and due date.

Follow through. If you have any action from the meeting, be sure to take those actions in a timely way. If you’ve agreed to a follow-up action by a specific date or time, follow through. In any event, be sure that any open-ended follow-up items are complete before your next meeting.



The

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The WHAT…



Create a regular schedule

At the start, this management shift may prove challenging for everyone. When taking on this new managing method, share your approach with your team. Describe how you’d like to involve them and what you expect of them. Explain your role as a partner andcoach who will help them discover answers. Show them how this will benefit them, the team, and the business. Be sure they know that this partnership will work only with their full participation.

Create recurring one-to-one meetings in your calendar with each direct report. Choose the meeting interval that works best for timely communication and support. It is highly recommended to schedule a minimum of

You can conduct one 60-minute meeting on a monthly cadence; however, you may find that more frequent meetings, such as half-hour meetings occurring every other week are needed. Be sensitive to the needs of your direct reports as individuals, and get their input when creating a schedule.

On a quarterly basis, you will be required to document one of your one-to-one meetings with each of your direct reports. You will also have a 5th conversation at the end of the year.

By no means should more frequent one-to-one conversations become the only face-to-face communication between you and your direct reports. You should continue scheduling and conducting other touch points, (e.g. team meetings) as needed. The one-to-one meetings are intended to routinely provide (and protect) time for essential conversations that support individual growth and success.

Stick to the schedule. Making these meetings a priority demonstrates that you value your relationships with your direct reports. If you absolutely have to miss a meeting, try to reschedule it for the same day or the next day. Never skip a scheduled one-to-one meeting.



The

WH

AT…

“To succeed today, companies cannot rely on the most important conversations between managers and employees happening only once or twice a year.”

Prepare

Spend some time before the meeting to review your direct report’s goals and make note of any potential updates/additions to goals and/or emphasis you want to place on specific growth behaviors during the one-to-one meeting.

Figure out what information you need and what you want to say, and prioritize items in case the time allotted isn’t enough to cover everything in one session. After selecting the topics or categories you will cover in your one-to-one meeting, you should prepare questions to ask which will guide the essential conversation. Take advantage of the various one-to-one meeting resources, templates and tools, which you can find in this guide book and on Community.

It is important to note that one-to-one meetings are essential conversations that build relationships and provide support. In preparing for them, remember that the meeting is not just your agenda and should not be used to clear your to-do list, or elicit just a status report. There are seven key topics or categories which can be covered during a one-to-one essential conversation:

Depending upon the frequency and length of your one-to-one meetings, you may not be able to cover all seven topics. Prepare for each one-to-one meeting and determine which topics to cover.



The

WH

AT…

General status of activities and goals

The how – Sungard Availability Services values and general description of how accomplishments are made

Take time to learn about your direct report and who they are.

Where the employee is looking to grow

How engaged is the employee? What motivates him or her?How do they like to be recognized?

What is working? What is not? What processes need to be improved and how can we fix them? What new ideas does the employee have?

Always ask for feedback from your direct reports.

Ask good questions



The

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Questions to ask during a one-to-one meeting*Use the 15-5 Report to gather status reports on projects**

► What is the best thing that happened to you this past week/two weeks/month?► What’s going well in your role?► Any wins (big or small) this past week/two weeks/month?

► What activities are you employing to create progress?► What are some great contributions made by other team members?► What is the business doing, or can be doing, to make you more successful?► What team(s) are you collaborating with? How is that collaboration going?► Which of the Sungard AS values are you using to achieve success?► Which of your Strengths are you using to achieve success?

► What is the best thing that happened to you outside of work this past week/two weeks/month?

► How are you feeling about the work that you are performing?► How do you like to be recognized?

► What’s the morale around you?► Which of your Strengths are you current using?► How would you describe your engagement with the work that you are

performing?► What could you and I do increase your engagement?

► What learning opportunities and experiences do you need to increase success?► What, if any, changes would you make?

Consider having a career development conversation on a quarterly basis

► What challenges/road blocks are you facing?► Where are you stuck?► What is one idea to improve a product/service/process at Sungard AS?► If you were the CEO, what is one thing you would do differently?

► Provide feedback on how I can better support you.► What do you need me to be doing differently? Continue doing?► What can I do to help remove any roadblocks or support you in your work?

After selecting the topics or categories you will cover in your one-to-one meeting, you should prepare questions to ask which will guide the essential conversation.

Asking the right questions to employees is an agile and lightweight way of keeping up with what’s really going on. Questions are the sparks that ignite the imagination, and light the way towards desired results. The power of inquiry allows managers to acknowledge successes and offer support to help people learn, grow, and eventually become their greatest selves. Answers to powerful questions become the essential conversation about what is meaningful for the team and the company, and those conversations transform into action.

Conversations Guides have been created for you to help you use these questions.

The Tools

The appendix contains various tools and templates for you to use to prepare your one-to-one meetings and to record your direct reports’ responses. The four ‘go-to’ tools are:



The

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Go to AS Community

to find printablesand downloads

1

2

“Don’t just review performance, improve it.”

3

4

The Process – a Method and a Model

Asking good questions is how you can produce meaningful dialogue, but how you create, continue and change behavior is what sustain success.

There are 3 methods you can achieve this through – Feedback, Feedforward and Coaching

So that you can effectively utilize these tools, ask good questions and engage in essential conversations, exercise the STAR Method and GROW Model to provide feedback, feedforward and coaching.



The

WH

AT…

TaskWhat were the smaller tangible goals your direct report set to help

achieve the overall goal?

SituationWhat was the overall goal

he/she wanted to achieve?

ResultWhat were the

results after he/she put the

actions in place?

ActionWhat actions did your direct report take to achieve the

goal?

Feedback provides information on how a person performed; it focuses on what a person did in the past. Using the STAR method can help provide guidance based on experiences that were conducted.

Feedforward provides information on how a person can enhance his/her performance; it focuses on how a person can change for the future.

Now that we’ve discussed your experiences from the Cloud project, may I offer some ideas for how I believe you can improve for the next time?

Being a coach may be different than using a coaching model. Coaches should help employees focus on the future based around issues and problems that the employee wants to solve. Coaches may make suggestions on how to handle a situation but it is up to the employee to make the

decision and take ownership of the process.

Appendix:

Tools to Conduct Essential Conversations



Appendix:Tools to Guide Essential Conversations

► Infographic: Essentials Conversations – Tactics for Success

► The 15-5 Report

► Custom Conversation Guide – an Excel tool

► A Manager’s Quick Question Guide for an Essential Conversation

► 7 Powerful Questions to Radically Lift an Essential Conversation

► The Walking Meeting

► Strengths Roll-a-die Activity

► The Challenge Question Exercise

► Quarterly Conversation Form

► Guidebook Sources



Agree

25%

Disagree

75%

Essential Conversations – Tactics for Success


…because only 25% of employees agree

they have an opportunity to do what they do best

every day.

TaskSituation

Result Action

Peter Drucker said it best, "What gets measured, gets done.“

The concept of The 15-5 Report is simple –

a single-page flash communicationthat a direct report submits to the manageron a regular cadence to provide a status report.

The 15-5 Reportthe report for managers who have no time for reports



15-5 Reports provide instant feedback that

is crucial to a smoothly functioning,

process-heavy workplace.

A 15-5 Report should take no more than fifteen minutes to hand-write on a standardized form and …………… five minutes …………… to read and …………… understand.

These reports allow individual

contributors to communicate

successes without feeling awkward,

capture important lessons, demonstrate

awareness of next steps, and alert you to setbacks without asking for support.

15-5 Reports are intended to help managers and their

direct reports think proactively, work smarter, not harder, and create a sense of involvement,

teamwork and inclusion.

They reinforce the importance of regular

and consistent feedback.

Employees who are required to set goals on a regular basis will

always perform at a higher level.

Complete a 15-5 Report prior to each 1-to-1 for your project(s)

update

My Weekly 15-5 ReportName

Date

AchievementsList your accomplishments during the week, including activities you’ve completed and objectives you’ve met. What’s working?

What are the tangible progress/results accomplished? How did you achieve it/them?What Sungard AS values, and Strengths did you leverage?

Priorities and PlansState your specific, targeted prioritized plans for the next week. Include due dates.

Potential ChallengesDescribe any potential obstacles. What’s not working?

OpportunitiesRecord any lessons you’ve learned and note areas where you can improve.




Custom Conversation Guide

A Manager’s Quick Question Guide for an Essential Conversation


What’s the best thing that happened to you this week, either at work or outside of it?

What’s going well in your role? Any wins (big or small) this week?

What are some great contributions made by other team members?

How are you feeling? What’s the morale around you?

On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you? Why?

What challenges are you facing? Where are you stuck?

What is the business doing, or can be doing, to make you more successful?

What is one idea to improve a product/service/process at Sungard AS?

If you were the CEO of the company, what’s one thing you would do differently?

Provide feedback on how I can be a better leader.

7 Powerful Questions to Radically Lift an Essential ConversationIf you are already having regular one-to-one meetings, here are seven questions for busy managers to radically lift those essential conversations.

These questions are not used in sequence of one another but sprinkled into the conversation with a direct report to exhibit yourcuriosity and service to them as their manager. When we feel the pressure to get things done, it’s all too easy to default to giving advice and providing solutions. That’s often a hollow victory. Adapting some of the principles and practices of building a coaching habit may be a little uncomfortable at first – for you and for the people you lead – but the upshot is you’ll work less hard and have more impact. And these seven question will get you there.

1. What’s on your mind?

The Kick Start Question starts fast and gets to the heart of the matter quickly. It cuts to what’s important while side stepping stale agendas and small talk.

2. And what else?

The AWE Question keeps the flame of curiosity burning.

“And what else?” may seem like three small words, but it’s actually the best coaching question in the world. That’s because someone’s first answer is never the only answer – and rarely the best answer. There are always more answers to be found and possibilities to be uncovered.

3. What’s the real challenge here for you?

This is the Focus Question. It gets to the essence of the issue at hand. This question defuses the rush to action, which has many managers and employees

busily and cleverly solving the wrong problems. This is the question to get you focused on solving the real problem, not just the first problem.

4. What do you want?

This is the Foundation Question. It’s trickier than you think to answer, and many disagreements or dysfunctional relationships will untangle with this simple but difficult exchange: “Here’s what I want. What do you want?”

5. How can I help?

It might come as a surprise that sometimes managers’ desire to be helpful can actually have a disempowering effect on the employee being helped. This question counteracts that. It prevents you from leaping in and beginning things you think people want you to do.

6. If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?

If you have an employee who feels compelled to say “yes” to every request or challenge, than this question is for you. Many employees feel overwhelmed and overcommitted; they’ve lost their focus and spread themselves too thin.That’s why you need to ask this Strategic Question.

7. What was most useful for you?

Your closer is the Learning Question. It helps finish the essential conversation strong, rather than just fading away. This question helps reinforce learning and development. They identify value in the conversation – something they’re likely to miss otherwise, and you get the bonus of useful feedback for your next one-to-one meeting.


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The Walking MeetingAsk your employees to take a walk with you.

There is a growing trend of holding more purposeful walking meetings, especially in light of research that indicates how damaging sedentary lifestyles are to our health.

So how does one have successful walking meeting? Here are two simple ideas for holding effective walking meetings:

• You should plan to walk outdoors because there’s no better way to stimulate creativity than a change of scenery. Quiet parks and other green spaces are ideal; busy sidewalks along noisy streets are not.

• The purpose of a walking meeting should be clearly defined so that everyone stays on topic.

Walking meetings are especially good opportunities to have a brainstorming session. It’s “getting out of the box that leads to out-of-the-box thinking.”

24

Follow these steps to add Strengths into your Essential Conversations:

1. Ask your direct report to roll a die.

2. If the numbers 1-5 come up ask him or her to discuss their top five Strengthfrom his or her Report that matches the die.

For example, if he or she rolls a three. He or she will read his or her third Strength and discuss the statements below.

3. If the number 6 comes up, he/she can choose any Strength.

Potential areas to discuss could be:

► Tell me about a time in the last month that you have used the Strength of ______ and how it has helped you achieve success.

► Tell me about a time in the last month that you have used the Strength of ______ and it became a liability because you maximized it.

► Tell me why you think the Strength of ______ is beneficial to the team and how we can be using it more effectively.

Strengths Roll-a-Die Exercise



The Challenge Question ExerciseOne way to add some spontaneity to your one-to-one meetings is to write Challenge Questions on notecards. Before concluding the meeting and ending with agreement, spread out the notecards face-down , have the employee randomly choose one and answer the question.

CAUTION: A deeper conversation may occur.

► Tell me a fun story about you that recently happened at work or outside of work.

► What part of your job is least enjoyable? How can you change it? Or capitalize on your Strengths?

► Is there any part of your job that you didn’t expect doing? If so, what part?

► What has been the most challenging part of your job recently?

► What part of your job do you love doing?

► What is one thing you’re consistently doing that I am unaware of or don’t completely understand?

► Where would you like more responsibility within your role, if any?

► What have you accomplished that you can put on your resume?

► What attribute/skillset/competency are you intentionally working on enhancing?

► Tell me about a new person you recently added to your internal network.

► How have you embodied Sungard Availability Services’ corporate values? Be specific.



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loye

e’s

per

form

ance

go

als

into

th

e ce

lls in

th

e fi

rst

colu

mn

. Th

en c

om

ple

te t

he

oth

er c

olu

mn

s af

ter

you

hav

e co

nd

uct

ed a

n O

ne-

to-O

ne

Esse

nti

al C

on

vers

atio

n.

It is

imp

ort

ant

to r

emar

k o

n t

he

Sun

gard

Ava

ilab

ility

Ser

vice

s’ V

alu

es. T

he

Man

ager

Co

mm

ents

co

lum

n g

ives

yo

u t

he

op

po

rtu

nit

y to

incl

ud

e in

form

atio

n a

bo

ut

the

emp

loye

e’s

enga

gem

ent,

an

d p

rob

lem

so

lvin

g an

d in

no

vati

on

ski

lls.

Thes

e d

ocu

men

ts w

ill b

e ke

pt

____

____

an

d s

ho

uld

be

mai

nta

ined

th

rou

gho

ut

the

year

. It

is im

per

ativ

e to

kee

p t

hes

e u

pd

ated

to

mak

e yo

ur

End

of

the

Year

Co

nve

rsat

ion

eas

ier.

Mo

re

freq

uen

t co

nve

rsat

ion

s th

rou

gho

ut

the

year

will

be

pro

vid

e m

ore

su

ffic

ien

t d

ata

to s

up

po

rt t

he

ann

ual

ass

essm

ent.

Th

is a

void

sth

e m

ajo

r p

rob

lem

of

rece

ncy

bia

s –

the

hu

man

ten

den

cy t

o

keep

rec

ent

his

tory

at

the

fore

fro

nt

of

ou

r m

emo

ry. M

ore

reg

ula

r ch

eck-

ins

yiel

ds

mo

re t

angi

ble

res

ult

s an

d b

ette

r o

vera

ll co

mm

un

icat

ion

. A m

inim

um

of

qu

arte

rly

con

vers

atio

ns

will

b

ette

r eq

uip

yo

u t

o r

efle

ct o

n w

hat

was

acc

om

plis

hed

, as

wel

l as,

ho

w it

was

acc

om

plis

hed

th

rou

gh

ou

tth

e ye

ar.

Sources

“6 Things Managers Could Stand to Learn From Coaches,” Gary Magenta. Fast Company, May 2014.

“7 Essential Questions All Great Managers Ask Their Employees,” Michael Bungay Stanier. Business Insider, March 2016

“8 Steps to High Performance Coaching,” Rick Conlow. LinkedIn.com, April 8, 2014.

“15Five’s Guide to Creating High Performing Teams,” David Hasell. 15Five.com.

“Coaching Increases Communication, Employee Engagement, and Productivity, Study Finds,” Maria Ho. TD Magazine, December 2014.

“Delivering Effective Performance Feedback,” Deborah Busser. TD Magazine, April 2012.

Mindreading 101: The 10 Questions You Need to Ask Your Team Every Week,” David Hassell. 15Five.com.

“Performance Management for Managers,” Vanessa Fludd. TD Magazine, March 2016.

Stephen M.R. Covey Interview, ATD Staff. TD Magazine, May 2009.

“The Uncertain Future of the Annual Performance Review: A Guide for Your Company,” David Hasell. 15Five.com

“The Walking Meeting,” Serena Holloman. TD Magazine, August 2014.

“Three Ways to Strengthen Work Relationships,” ATD Staff. TD Magazine, June 2014.

“Transparency on the Menu,” Kristen Fyfe-Mills. TD Magazine, March 2016.

“Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback,” Marshall Goldsmith. Marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com, 2002.



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