Page 103 - Make Work Great

Beginning Your Crystal

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a whole conversation to be about what was done well. If the impact is
planned for the future, you can paint a picture of why your employee’s
work is so important. If you can help him or her connect impact with
incentive—how the results of the work will produce value for both the
company and the employee—you’ll have an even easier time holding
useful conversations about this type of overtness.

Overtness About Incentives if You Are the Manager
Conversations involving overtness about incentive can be tricky. Like
anyone, your employee would prefer a job that is engaging and excit-
ing. On the other hand, he or she wants to be seen as a willing worker
and a team player. The idea of talking with you, the manager, about
why he or she “likes this job” can be unsettling; the idea of discussing
what he or she wishes were different can be downright unpleasant. Be
cognizant of this diffi culty. Try to open the door for conversation about
what work your employee fi nds most satisfying without initiating a
complaint session that leaves both of you frustrated. Frame the conver-
sation as a search for information you want for the future. Explain that
you would like to know more about your employee’s favorite parts of
the job, so that over time you can provide more of those opportunities.
Seed the conversation with positive observations: “You seem to have a
talent for interacting with customers on the phone. Is that something
you enjoy?” Be positive about possibilities, but be honest about reality.
Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver.

Overtness About Progress if You Are the Manager
Discussing overtness about progress and the visibility system an
employee uses to track his or her individual progress can be diffi cult
too. Because you’re the manager, when all goes well, you shouldn’t see
your employees’ visibility systems—only their results. You wouldn’t
look over a person’s to-do list, for example, unless you perceived
a problem with his output. You certainly wouldn’t want your own
supervisor micromanaging you this way, so be careful not to become
a micromanager yourself. Instead, try to learn about visibility systems
in safe ways. Congratulate successful employees on their performance

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