According to a 2015 Gallup Employee Engagement study, called "The State of the American Manager," 50% of Americans have left a job to "get away from their manager at some point in their career." Thus, the old adage is true: People don't leave companies; they leave managers.
As managers in pharma, it's not hard to admit that retaining our best people makes life easier. If we have dependable, proactive, and intellectually curious employees, we can trust that they will bring value to the company. If we have employees who are experts in certain laboratory techniques or advanced analytics, we rely on them to help advance our department goals. Our employees who are intimately familiar with and help shape a positive and inclusive company culture inspire others to want to work with us. In other words, employees who excel at what they do can make us all look good! And then we as managers can focus on some bigger picture goals rather than on performance issues or having to hire and train new people to replace those that leave.
But let's face it. Every employee is different. They have different motivations, different strengths and weaknesses, and different ways of working. No matter if we chose to hire them or they were assigned to us, we have to figure out the best way to work as their managers. While their happiness is definitely not our responsibility, understanding how they like to work and what motivates them to work will ensure maximum productivity and engagement.
However, amidst the mountains of tedious paperwork bureaucracy (electronic and otherwise) that crowds our attention, how do we ensure that we know how our employees like to work? Rather than observing or waiting for problems to arise, the best approach is to just ask! An hour of your time now devoted to having this conversation may save you days or even months of headaches later on.
A manager in my pharma organization recently shared with me a series of "get to know you" questions that she uses to initiate the conversation with her new employees. These questions are:
- What are some features of your best working relationships with previous managers?
- What are some features of your worst working relationships with previous managers?
- How much detail do you prefer to have from your manager on what's going on?
- How would you like to use our one-on-one time?
- How do you like to receive praise?
- How do you like to receive constructive feedback?
- Anything I should know about your working style?
- What experiences make you happy at work?
- What experiences make you stressed or frustrated at work?
- What are some things you're hoping that I can help with?
I was impressed with the thoughtful way that she approached getting to know her employees. Of course, getting useful and actionable answers also requires her employees to have a high level of self-awareness and honest self-reflection. I encouraged her to revisit these questions periodically as her employees become increasingly more self-aware and can better assess their own reactions or feelings as they progress in their day-to-day time on the job.
In particular, it's useful for managers to know how much detail their employees or team members want to know. This pertains to both the specific projects on which people are staffed as well as the broader strategic context from the pharma organization. For example, the leader of my study team wants to thoroughly understand each decision that is made by the senior leadership before he will execute on our study. The context and rationale are extremely important for him, and he expresses his frustration when he does not have a clear understanding. This frustration can be challenging for those who work with him because they may not care as much about those same details. For these other colleagues, they just want to know what their specific tasks are so that they can focus on accomplishing them. For myself, I think it's often motivating to understand the broader strategic context (what is the company trying to do? where is the company trying to go?) so that I can better understand how my tedious or narrow bit of work fits in the bigger picture.
Some of these questions can help a manager gauge the type of interaction her direct reports want to have with her. Does the direct report like to have some small talk before getting into the meeting agenda? Does the direct report like to be praised publicly or would s/he rather be complimented in private or in a smaller group setting? While a manager may want to develop a rapport with her employees by having a general understanding of how many kids they have or what hobbies they enjoy, some employees may find it intrusive yet others are more than thrilled that their managers express an interest.
The last question about what the employee would like to receive help on is an important one for understanding employee motivations as well. Perhaps, he/she is seeking more mentoring or career exploration. Or the employee may be interested in working towards a promotion. I have expressed to my own manager that I would appreciate introductions to people in the company who might make good mentors. I have also asked for help in identifying some "stretch" opportunities so that I can expand my skill set and professional network.
At the end of the day though, continually remembering and tailoring your management style to each individual direct report would be exhausting and unsustainable for any manager. However, if we have this conversation with each direct report (take notes!) and start to see trends or commonalities among multiple people that we manage, then those may be the ones to place our focus. For example, if multiple employees complain about how their email inboxes are exploding, then maybe a different form of communication is warranted. In addition, if we observe less engagement from one or two employees, we may revisit this conversation with them specifically to get clues about how best to re-engage them.
Attracting and retaining the best people in our organizations can be hard work. I hope that these 10 "get to know you" questions can help managers initiate conversations with their direct reports to develop, strengthen, and maintain successful work relationships.