Do you help people get to where they want to go? And will they go out of their way to help you get where you want to go?
How many of you, as managers, can answer the following five questions about your employees? How many of you can even answer them for yourself? How many of you have a boss who can answer them about you?
- What are your short- and long-term career goals or aspirations?
- What would you like your next role/job in this organization to be?
- What skill would you like to build or acquire in the next six months to a year?
- What kind of additional training would you like to have?
- What is your biggest job frustration? Do you have any ideas about how we could make it go away?
By asking the kinds of questions that demonstrate this level of interest and care, you can earn undying devotion from your troops, but only if you’re sincere and only if you follow through.
This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.