Talking to Staff!

Description

Learning Objectives: ■ to be vigilant and quick to identify staff issues ■ to intervene immediately ■ to plan a strategy for meeting with a member of staff ■ to know about 'critical incidents' ■ to be professional and objective - with emotions under control ■ to ask the right questions and foster a two-way process ■ to monitor and review progress/change More about the activity: First teams study the profile of an employee or colleague (six are supplied for variety) and an 'issue' that is impacting their work and affecting others. Each team has to identify the exact nature of the issue. The profile also gives views from other managers about how they would deal with the situation. These views differ widely and give teams the basis for a lively discussion on the best way forward. Teams work on preparing for a meeting with the 'employee', to address the issue and work towards a prompt resolution. A Meeting Planner helps structure their preparation. It asks about the main issue(s), the tone they will adopt at the meeting, the questions they will ask, how they will in general terms conduct the meeting, how they feel/hope it will go, and their proposal for the way forward. Next teams work through a set of 30 Statements, considering the type of language to use and scoring each statement as to how appropriate they think they are. A debrief follows, where teams explain the rationale for their plans and consider the statement scores. Here the learning points emerge. The Trainer's Notes includes a brief commentary on the statements and a Sample Meeting. To conclude participants receive a Key Points Handout. It is worth going through each point and relating it to the teams' plans.