What is the good conversation?

'The good conversation' is a term you hear more and more these days. It refers to the conversations you have with your manager about your own development. The good conversation often replaces the three standard meetings of the traditional performance review cycle.

Why hold the good conversation?

Younger employees in particular want to keep growing and developing. For them it is often one of the most important things they look for when searching for a job. Because personal development matters so much and the labour market is competitive, organisations have to work harder and harder to find and keep good people. The good conversation is central to that. Many organisations still work with a traditional annual cycle of three meetings a year: a goal-setting meeting at the start of the year, a progress meeting halfway through and an appraisal at the end. Many employees find this way of being assessed nerve-racking and uninspiring. That is why more and more organisations are moving to a new way of appraising built around the good conversation. As organisations put more emphasis on agility, flexibility and self-management, much more ownership and responsibility is expected of employees. The new way of appraising puts people far more at the centre and gives them much more control over their own development. They are responsible for setting goals and continuously ask for (360-degree) feedback from the people they have worked with.

What are the characteristics of the good conversation?

The good conversation is about the employee's development. Personal attention is the key to making it work. It takes place several times a year: at least four times, and preferably more often. That way you can adjust in time when someone's development stalls or needs steering. The good conversation is two-way traffic, from the employee as much as from the manager.

How do you hold the good conversation? (tips)

A good conversation does not happen by itself, of course. Here are four tips to get you started:

1. Set the agenda for the good conversation together

Good preparation is half the work. What are you going to talk about? What does the employee want to discuss, and what does the manager want to discuss? This creates efficiency and stops you forgetting things.

2. Multitasking means screwing up

Make sure all your attention is on the conversation. Put your phone away and do not think about other things.

3. Ask for feedback

Ask for feedback on how you are doing, preferably from several people. That gives you a rounded picture from different angles of what is and is not going well, so you can adjust in time. The Treams Feedback Toolkit takes you through all the phases of building a mature feedback culture, including exercises, tips and workshop formats.

4. Make yourself vulnerable

The foundation of the good conversation is psychological safety: a sense of safety and trust. By making yourself vulnerable and sharing difficult things, you set the example. A good example is followed. If you dare to be vulnerable, the chances are the other person will be too, and the conversation can go much deeper.

How digital support helps you hold the good conversation

A good conversation requires genuine interest in the employee and a willingness to go deeper. So you ask the right questions. Beyond conversational technique, though, the input for the conversation matters just as much. The good conversation is about something. Feedback and goals are valuable forms of input. Gathering input, preparing conversations and looking ahead at what is possible are all part of an employee's development journey. They are not separate parts; they interlock. A central, digital environment where everything comes together is an extremely useful tool for that.
The Treams platform brings all the input for good conversations and all the follow-up steps together, so you get the best out of your people.

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