How to have successful one-on-one conversations with your employees.
A pat on the back. A harsh word. A smile. A frown. A compliment. A critique.
We are reviewing our employees all the time, whether we know it or not. My favorite example of this continuous review process is the following exchange between me and one of my managers as I enter the kitchen, deep in thought about something and clearly distracted:
Manager: “Hey Dan, are you angry with me?”
Me: “No, you are doing great!”
Manager: “Well then, why don’t you tell that to your face?”
We are always conducting employee reviews on the fly, verbally or non-verbally. That will never change. However, if we want to up our game and improve our team, we need to add a more formal employee-review process. Here are some best practices for an effective strategy to review employees.
- One-on-one.
- XX minutes.
- Quarterly
- 80/20 rule.
- Sandwich method.
Best Practice: One-On-One
Employee reviews should be conducted one-on-one with your direct reports. A direct report is a person you have the power to hire, fire and reward. If you are an owner, this would be your manager. If you are a manager, this would be your key staffers.
One-on-one means this is a private conversation between two people that cannot be overheard by customers or other employees.
You may call this process an “employee review,” but I prefer to call it a “one-on-one.” During one-on-ones, cell phones should be turned off. Just the two of you, away from the employee’s job station. I prefer the dining room – or even the coffee shop next door – as those are neutral zones and set the stage for conversation.
Best Practice: Xx Minutes
The XX represents that a specific amount of time should be identified. This time will vary depending on the position. If you are an owner reviewing your manager, this time should be 60 minutes. If you are a manager reviewing your crew members, this time could be as little as 15 minutes per employee. The idea is that the time frame – known by both parties in advance – indicates it is not a casual conversation but a work-related review process that must be completed within that period.
Best Practice: Quarterly
Conducting employee reviews (or one-on-ones) quarterly, meaning once every three months, seems to be ideal. Major corporations do it annually, but small businesses change more rapidly. Employee turnover in the restaurant business tends to be much higher, as many of the positions are starter jobs, second jobs or held by students. As a result of rapid changes and turnover, we need to review our team members more often to affect improvement. The purpose of this process is exactly that: improvement. Our goal is for both team members and ourselves to be improved by the process.
Best Practice: 80/20 Rule
This might be the most important best practice – and the most difficult to achieve. Eighty percent of the time, the employee should be talking; 20 percent of the time, you should be talking. That is the opposite of most employee reviews. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. It is time to listen.
Success with the 80/20 Rule requires new skills. Ask questions rather than making statements. Practice PQRS, which is an acronym for Probe, Quiet, Reflect, Support.
Asking questions puts you in control of the conversation. Recall when a child asks “why” to every answer you give. The child is receiving more and more information because you must continue going deeper than your original answer.
Asking questions also causes the employee to think. The person you ask the question of will always give you the answer they think you want to hear. To get a thoughtful answer, you will need to go deeper. This is where PQRS comes into play.
Probe
Probe means to ask a question that cannot be answered with “yes” or “no.” Probes start with “Tell me about …” or “What do you think about …”
Quiet
Do not accept the first answer to your question. Only by you remaining quiet will the employee think, “This is weird, my manager is not saying anything. They must want me to elaborate.”
Reflect
This is another method to get the employee to speak and think more. Here is an example:
Manager: “Why do you think we weigh the cheese?”
Employee: “So you make more profit.”
Manager: “More profit?”
By reflecting (repeating the last word or words of their sentence phrased as a question) and then remaining quiet, you force the employee to think about their answer and then provide more detail.
Employee: “Hmmm, maybe then you could pay me more money.”
Support
Offering supportive words demonstrates that you are actively listening and are engaged in the conversation. Supportive words include “wow!” “Go on…” “That must be frustrating” and “I get it.”
Best Practice: Sandwich Method
We often face a situation with a good employee who has behavior we want to change. The most effective way to cause them to change their behavior is to “sandwich” the negative between two positives. In other words, you identify two things the employee does well and deliver the negative criticism in between them.
For example: “Joe, you are one of our fastest pizza makers. You really rock during busy times. I’d love to keep you in this position, but to do so, I need you to weigh the cheese on every pizza. Don’t worry about this slowing you down, it is worth a little extra time on the line. The customers say you create awesome pizzas, and I know that adding consistency to the cheese amount will make them even better.”
One-on-one reviews might be uncomfortable at first. With practice, you will become an awesome communicator, listener and leader. Your one-on-one conversations will affect positive changes in your team and in your business. You will have a powerful employee review process, which will lead to less turnover, more employee development and a stronger team to support you as you build your pizzeria.
DAN COLLIER is the founder of Pizza Man Dan’s in California and a speaker at International Pizza Expo. This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Pizza Today.
