What have you learned lately?

A powerful approach to driving employee engagement is to simply ask, What have you learned lately?  Asked of course with an encouraging curious vibe rather than an intimidating “you better have an impressive answer” tone.  The conversation that ensues can lead to valuable reflection and growth.  The most meaningful learning often occurs in an informal manner on the job, rather than in a training workshop or an annual performance review.  Use questions like the ones below to spur your talent’s everyday professional development.

 Managers can understandably be a bit cowed by the edict, “though shalt have robust development dialogues with your employees.”  Yes, this is a key management competency but it doesn’t have to be complicated.  The “what have you learned” approach is practical and simple.  Set aside some time in an upcoming 1x1 to ask a few of these questions and you may be surprised at what you yourself learn about your employees, their work, and their interests.

 The most open-ended of these questions is simply, What have you learned lately as you’ve worked on your projects over the past X month(s)? Or, What’s been going well?  What’s been challenging?

 You can get more targeted, perhaps asking a couple questions about a specific project or assignment:

 ·       In what ways did this assignment grow your understanding of [xxx]?

·       What did you find most challenging about this project?

·       What else do you want to learn about this topic?

·       What did you enjoy most about this assignment?

·       What did you discover about yourself as you worked on this?

·       Did you identify any particular skills or knowledge you’d like to grow?

 The answers will inform how you coach your talent going forward and help them explore their interests.  For instance, you might be able to provide exposure to things that interest them or introductions you can make to help them learn about other aspects of the company or business. 

Final note: Ask these questions of yourself once in a while too!

Cheers to you

Cheers to all of us out there trying to get the best out of ourselves, our employees and out team-mates.  If you want a free consultation to chat through these ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out.  Onward!