Leadership Pipeline, 3rd Edition

10Meaningful Dialogues for Performance, Engagement, and Retention

“Nobody likes performance reviews; get rid of them!” “Times are tough; we don't have any budget for development!” “I am much too busy to coach anyone.” If this is what you and others in your organization are thinking, think again. Poor retention, lack of engagement, quiet quitting, burnout, and many other problems of the moment arise from this kind of organizational thinking. Once employees sense they're not valued—by the company in general or by their leaders in particular—they're likely to quit and leave, or quit and stay, or use social media to express their opinion of the company. We can't stress this enough: you will see no performance improvement and no development without meaningfully engaging with your employees.

Some organizations have abandoned performance scores, and others still use them. Some organizations apply structured semiannual performance conversations; others apply continuous performance conversations. One structure is not better than the other, and neither will address the problems listed previously. The only way to address these problems is by regularly conducting meaningful performance and development dialogues at all levels.

Current wisdom says leaders should address these problems by “having empathy,” “listening more,” “communicating more,” “being transparent,” “being authentic,” and so on. Although any of these approaches will likely produce some temporary progress, they won't get at ...