Jeff McLanahan
Contributing Writer
American Residential Services
I want to share a story I heard several years ago. There was once a six-year-old boy who had never said a single word since birth. His family became accustomed to this and assumed that the child simply was incapable of speech. Then, one night at dinner, he took a bite of mashed potatoes and said out loud, “These potatoes are too lumpy.” When asked why he had never spoken before, the boy said, “Until now, everything has been fine.”
As leaders, we sometimes fall into the trap of making assumptions and it can end up costing us in the long run. Some examples of assumptions we often make include:
- We assume that since our employees are not complaining about their hours, they are fine with working 12-hour days.
- We assume that since the economy is tough, our employees are not actively looking for another job.
- We assume that our employees are experienced and do not want to complete training, so we do not make them aware of it.
- We assume that our employees know that we appreciate them, so we do not publicly express our appreciation.
- We assume that money is always the primary driver for employees, so we do not work on other cultural items in our business.
How do we get ourselves out of this trap? It sounds simple but start talking to employees. Schedule regular time to check in with all your direct reports. The timeframe may vary. It could be as little as 15 minutes or it could be an hour based on your availability and the number of people you lead, but the important part is to do this regularly.
These check-ins do not have to be structured however you should have some conversation starters ready for the first few meetings. These conversation starters can be about work-related goals, but must also include relationship building questions about the person, their family, etc. Be careful not to get too personal but find out about them and their families. Early meetings can explore topics such as what drives them and what career goals are? Later meetings can explore topics such as why they stay at the job and what would make them leave?
Stop making assumptions. You may be surprised how much your team will tell you if you just ask!