Identify interests

In this phase, you and your employee engage in conversations aimed at identifying your employee's interests and passions. The goal of these conversations is not to pinpoint a specific goal or opportunity, but rather to identify areas of interest. This step sets the stage for exploring opportunities and effective goal setting later on in the development process.

These conversations often take the form of coaching conversations or touchpoint meetings, with you guiding your employee through thoughtful, open-ended questions. Approaching these conversations with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to listen often builds a stronger relationship between you and your employee as well as provides helpful insight to both parties.

Five tips for productive conversations

1. Be prepared. Take time to reflect and plan your approach before entering the conversation.

2. Be curious. Set aside your assumptions and operate from a place of curiosity.

3. Listen attentively. Offer your full attention and share information about yourself only when it helps further the conversation about your staff member.

4. Formulate thoughtful questions. Ask questions that elicit more detail or reflection.

5. Encourage deeper sharing. Respond in ways that allow your employee to elaborate and develop their thoughts.

Formulating thoughtful questions

If you can head into a conversation with a few pre-determined questions, that can be a big help! Consider the following as you prepare for a conversation:

• Are your questions open-ended? Check that your questions do not elicit a yes or no response as that will often stifle the coaching conversation.
• Are your questions direct and succinct? Short and simple questions that are well structured can be extremely powerful and encouraging.
• Are your questions nonjudgemental? Ensure that your questions do not infer a right or wrong answer. This gives permission for your employee to reply truthfully and explore their own thoughts.
• Do your questions generate creative thinking and bring underlying information to the surface? You can likely open up avenues of exploration by asking something in a way that allows your employee to answer through a variety of lenses.
• Do your questions reflect your employee's language? Listen carefully to the language your employee uses. Do they most often say "I think," "I hear," or "I feel?" By adapting your language, you increase the likelihood of your employee connecting with the question.

Encouraging deeper sharing

Responding in ways that allow your employee to elaborate and develop their thoughts enriches the potential insights to be gained from the conversation. Here are some examples of phrases that encourage others to broaden and deepen their contributions to the conversation:

• Tell me more.
• Help me understand more about ___.
• What is/was that like for you?
• Is this new for you or is there a history around this for you?
• What do you think about that?
• I think I hear you saying ___. What might I be missing?
• What else can you tell me about ___?
• What are some other ways of thinking about ___?
• What is another way to look at ___?

Sample questions

Looking to quickly grab a few questions? Here are some to choose from:

• What do you want to be doing that you aren’t currently doing?
• What areas do you want to strengthen, improve, or develop?
• What is most important to you in your life and career?
• What does a successful career or life look like?
• What are the three most important things you would like to accomplish right now?
• What is holding you back?
• How did you get to your current position? How did you prepare?
• Describe the career of your dreams.
• At the end of your life, what would you like people to say about you?
• What results in life are essential for you to see yourself as a success?
• Describe your best future self.
• Of the new and recent developments in your organization or field, what interests you the most?
• Of all the things you have done in the last 5 years (work and non-work related), what specific activities and functions have energized you the most?
• What would you like to learn?