The job

Areas the manager should pay attention to

1

Do you like your job?

• Identify precisely what they do and do not like
• Seek to work out what can increase their job satisfaction
• This applies to virtually all questions: What can they do themselves? What can their colleagues do? What can the leader do?

2

Do you feel well equipped to do your job?

• Make sure you clearly identify areas where they do and do not feel equipped to do their job
• Then make specific agreements and enter them immediately under questions 34 and 35!

3

Do your activities give you enough challenges?

• Remember to ask: Why? Why not? How much? What? Together with whom?
• Ideas and suggestions for further challenges?

4

How would you rate the quality of your work?

• This will test your mettle as a good leader. With respect and affirmation you need to clearly focus on the definition and evaluation of quality in daily work
• You also need to be ready to initiate development and processes to better facilitate the desired level of quality

5

How good is your working relationship with your first line manager?

• Be very open to critique and good advice. Make sure you do not necessarily choose the easiest option
• If the employee specifically criticises you or your leadership, ask them to offer ideas and suggestions for how and where you can make improvements

6

To what degree are your goals clearly defined?

• Leaders must never interpret a negative answer as a rebuke and get defensive. Rather, use it as an opportunity as an organisation to become wiser and redeploy with clearer goals
• Ask what the employee means and would like to see

7

Do you feel appreciated by your manager?

• This is an extremely serious test of the way you come across as a leader, and what your leadership style actually signals
• Personally, I would view a score less than 5 as a problem requiring a specific action plan!
• Be very careful to take the employee’s feelings about the situation seriously!
• LISTEN – LISTEN – LISTEN, also to any non-verbal signals given here.  It’s in your own interest

Work colleagues

Areas the manager should pay attention to

8

How good are you at building relationships within the department?

• The aim is to refine your picture of the department and individual employees, and for you to help open a window for the employee to reflect on their self perception  
• You should try to see opportunities in this area by focusing on the positive

9

How good is the working relationship between colleagues in your department?

• EDP meetings are not a place for gossip
• We recommend that it be permissible to 'name names' – but that the manager immediately commits to taking action. This avoids it becoming idle gossip and makes it constructive instead
• The leader must ask about the working conditions for the employee

10

How well do you contribute to teamwork within the department?

• Firstly, listen carefully to the employee’s perception of their own contribution – or inadequacies, difficulties, areas they lack confidence, etc.
• It’s a good idea to discuss the employee’s best experience of teamwork, and try to draw connections and insight from this to tackle present-day challenges
• Focus on the necessity of teamwork and set specific goals for it (and remember to enter these into the agreements under question 34)
• Note that questions 10-12 have been carefully phrased to focus on the given employee’s contribution and not that of team members. The leader must retain focus on this!

11

How good are you at tackling minor conflicts within the department?

• Let the employee give examples of this
• Use these examples to spread good, desirable behaviour into other areas, so good behaviour is multiplied

12

How good are you at working with other departments?

• For many organisations, the key to success lies in the willingness and ability to work smoothly across departments and disciplines. So be sure to give this attention
• Be specific, and ask the employee to give examples of both success and the failure
• Use the energy from a success to tackle the failure and give it new momentum

13

Do you feel appreciated by your colleagues?

• This is key to understanding daily interaction in a department. Go in-depth and use it to unearth any potential lack of respect that needs to be addressed

14

How good is your manager at setting clear objectives for your department?

• Your success as a manager depends on how good you are at receiving and responding positively to feedback, including feedback from your employees
• You must therefore respond as positively as possible to their comments – and ask them to be specific: when, where, towards whom, etc.

15

Are these objectives part of your daily work?

• In some organisations, visions and objectives are only themes that are expressed on festive occasions and in speeches. This is not good practice!
• You must always note areas where the objectives are not considered – both in the department and by the individual employee!

Customers

Areas the manager should pay attention to

16

How good is your relationship to the customers?

• This is another opportunity for the manager to open a window for the employee to reflect on their own performance
• Openness and honesty is required from both parties
• An employee can easily face situations where he or she feels the customers are a nuisance. It is the job of the manager, through in-depth dialogue, to create an appreciation for why we are here and what our Mission actually is!

17

How well does the organisation handle relationships with customers?

• It is very valuable to get each employee’s comment on how successful they think the organisation is on this issue
• As the leader, you must add substance by asking for specific examples, episodes, complaints, etc.
• Ideally action should be made as a result – it would benefit the entire organisation

18

How would you rate the quality of the department’s services?

• Question 4 deals with the person’s own quality. This question refers to the department
• Again ask the employee to be very specific
• The focus should always be forward-looking. What will it take to improve quality in the short, medium and long term?

The organisation

Areas the manager should pay attention to

19

How proud are you of your workplace?

• In many organisations employees lack pride in their workplace. We need to change this and promote it wholeheartedly as it brings along positive energy
• All of questions 1-30 are given a score from 1 to 6 (with 6 being the best score). In all cases you should encourage a specific response in the case of lower scores. What will it take to raise this score next year?
• Remember to link it to a specific action point. Go to question 34 and enter the details

20

Does the organisation fully exploit your skills?

• This is a crucial question. People may complain about a 4-5 per cent budget cut for their department, but what if it is true that your department only utilises 65-70 per cent of employees’ competencies? If so, there is huge potential for growth right before your eyes!
• So be tenacious: identify precisely which skills the employee feels they have which you’re not utilising and make an action plan in response
• Note that there will often be 5-10 per cent which your department is unable to make use of. But don’t worry. Start with the 15-20 per cent you can utilise!

• If an employee feels well informed of the how the company is performing, any issues or competitive threats, you're likely to get more buy-in and understanding when you or senior management have to  make difficult decisions. Keeping staff well informed is therefore crucial
• If the employee does not feel well informed, you may need to consider how information can be distributed, either via regular employee meetings, an online newsletter or the intranet
• If possible get concrete examples on areas the employee would like more and/or better information

22

Do you have appropriate responsibility in your job?

• The leader should be very focussed on the individual to ensure ‘appropriate responsibility’ matches the employee’s competencies
• During the conversation the leader must assess the specific responsibility for the given person currently  – and the potential possibilities going forward
• Encourage the employee to offer ideas and suggestions, and be very aware that development of competencies may be required. Immediately go to point 35 and enter any details of agreements!

23

How would you rate the physical environment?

• The physical working environment can have a major impact on the employee’s satisfaction, so this question should be taken very seriously
• It will always be possible to improve some working conditions through relatively modest restructuring. These changes must be identified

24

How satisfied are you with the organisation’s top management?

• This question gives opportunity for a discussion between the manager and the employee about the organisation’s top management. Be very careful in terms of your own loyalty to the management!
• Again, you need to ask for specific examples and opportunities for improvement

25

Are you familiar with the strategy and core values?

• It is important that the employee gives serious thought to strategies and values. Are they well aware of them?
• Why? Why not? What else could be done? How can we all increase our ownership of the strategy and values?

The future

Areas the manager should pay attention to

26

Do you have the necessary skills to face the challenges of the future?

• Through dialogue the manager must ensure both parties have roughly the same view of the future. Where are we going? What impacts will this have on our work and methods? What skills will be necessary?
• The employee should then comment on how they see their situation and skills in light of the future
• To keep the process meaningful and engender hope looking ahead, both parties need to be conscious of making agreements about the future

27

Is your manager good at preparing the department for the future?

• Now the manager is in the spotlight and must listen in order to learn
• What can the manager do better in this regard? Where? Towards whom? When?

28

How good are your opportunities for development within our organisation?

• An organisation may be structured in such a way that development opportunities are limited for certain types of employees. However, it will normally be possible to find small areas that permit limited development, if it is wanted. Where? With what? Towards whom? When? What needs to happen?
• You need to listen to the employee’s own story, and see things from their perspective
• Through dialogue, the manager must help the employee reflect, so they have a realistic view of the future

29

How interested are you in new duties?

• The previous question may lead directly to this one
• Be very specific

30

Are you able to take on more duties?

• The manager needs to identify opportunities for a reasonable distribution of the workload within the department
• Each employee needs to develop their social skills so that they show empathy towards colleagues under pressure

Private life

Areas the manager should pay attention to

31

Are there conditions in your private life that have an impact on your work?

• Leaders need to tread carefully here – the employee’s private life is not on show
• The focus is on any private factors that have an impact on the work situation. These might be divorce, family illness, psychological problems or abuse problems, etc.
• Be sure to make agreements covering these issues!

Advice

Areas the manager should pay attention to

32

Try to give your manager 2-3 tips

• This point gives the employee the opportunity to freely give advice to the leader. “If I was in your shoes, I would focus on…”

Annual focus area

Areas the manager should pay attention to

33

Discuss a focus area the department or organisation has selected for the year

• Each department can decide on this focus area from year to year. It should be decided and communicated before the EDP meetings begin

Agreements for the future

Areas the manager should pay attention to

34

Your own skills development. Specific agreements:

• Points 34 and 35 are crucial points throughout the entire EDP meeting. The manager must train themselves to master this point. Every time an opportunity arises under a question to set a joint goal or agree on areas for development of competencies, go immediately to this point and enter the information. This way the action points are automatically followed up. Development of competencies does not have to be courses or further education. It can include desk training or putting skills the employee already possesses into play in new areas

35

Your goals for next year. Specific agreements:

• See above.