My friend Heath Hartzog started this strange but super effective meeting he called a reverse review after a team member left and surprised him by unloading all the things that she felt went wrong during her time on his team.
The reverse review goes like this. Leader A and their immediate leader schedule time with a team member to ask them open ended questions about how leader A is doing and give them the questions in advance. You heard that right. Leader A asks the team member to review his or her leadership in front of leader A's leader! Yikes, right?! Well, sort of.
At first, your team member comes in with a lot of hesitancy for obvious reasons. That first meeting normally went one of three ways. 80% of team members would say everything was perfect to get it over with as fast as possible in which case it is your job to slow things down, assure them this isn't a hoax and convince them that you really want to know how to lead better and try and get them to open up more. 10% of team members come in with some healthy discussions of things that bother them or suggestions of how to lead better. And then 10% come in with both barrels loaded and ready to unload their feelings on you. In all 3 cases, your job is to take good notes, ask clarifying questions and listen. NEVER use this time to argue or deflect.
Happy team members get to share that out loud in front of their leaders and they get to hear themselves talk about why they are enjoying their work. Team members with problems have a place to talk about them and get them out in the open. And unhappy team members get to air it out and hopefully get some help.
The benefits:
1) Problems come to the surface and get addressed.
2) Huge trust gets built when you are willing to do this in front of leader A's leader.
3) And last but not least, it avoids the "hit and run" story of a team member leaving and throwing a grenade of grievances on their way out the door. Now we are pulling up problems proactively which avoids the surprise attack on the way out.
Try it out. Reach out to me if you need more help. ~ jack
Example questions given to the team member ahead of time might be:
- What things do I do that you appreciate most as your leader?
- What do you like most about your role on the team?
- What things would you like to see change on the team?
- What things do I do as the leader that you would like to see improved?
- What am I not asking about that I should?
Pro Tips:
Have the team member sit in YOUR chair or at the head of the table if in a conference room. Leader A and their leader sit in the guest chairs.
Document the questions and answers. They come in very handy later. (trust me)
These are both art and science. Unless you put team members at ease, these can become a waste of time. Listen for themes or for subtleties that you need to learn more about.
