A little prep goes a loooong way

I hear from many clients that this is the time in the year when many important employee conversations happen. These conversations are less about day-to-day work, but long-term growth.

To pull these off well, you need to prepare more intentionally. We can't just wing these; it will likely backfire.

Here are 5 top ideas from Leaders in my programs who did this well:

5️⃣ What 'small commitments' were there?

What commitments have YOU made in the past? What commitments has your team member made? Important, there are NO small commitments here. If you remember something 'small' you discussed 6 months ago, that probably puts you into the top 5% of leaders out there.

4️⃣ What observations can you share about work to positively reinforce?

It's easy to fall into negativity bias or extreme bias and share only about things that were *extra*-ordinary. But remember: 80% of the work your team member does is in *ordinary* work. Share observations about what they do well here to continue. This is easily overlooked.

3️⃣ Decide in advance how YOU will be fully, emotionally present.

You know yourself. What needs to happen to ensure you show up physically AND mentally present? What can you do to put yourself into a positive mood? Don't leave this to chance. Your displayed emotion sends a strong signal about you, at least as much as your words.

2️⃣ How do you want the OTHER person to feel?

This is a powerful mental preparation tool for presenters, facilitators and in my view also for leaders. Ask yourself, how do you want the other person to feel in one word because of you? Energized? Motivated? Calmed? Empowered? What's in your control to influence that?

1️⃣ What's my intent in terms of content AND relationship?

This is the most powerful and important one. What do you REALLY want to achieve with this person? Don't just think about work deliverables. Think especially about what success/progress looks like in the *relationship* with this person, too.

Good news: This does not need to take long. If you timebox it and give yourself exactly 1 minute per question, you can achieve a lot. You get a great return for your preparation. I've seen it countless times. Leaders who do this, get a lot more back from their conversation than they expected.

I wish you powerful conversations ahead in the weeks to come!