We are currently so (rightly) focused on COVID-19, yet, we’re also mindful that we need to focus on advancing our businesses, now and once this crisis has passed. With the upheaval of today’s business – and health – environment, creating and maintaining an engaged company culture is more important now than ever.
As a company, Meeting Expectations places tremendous emphasis on not just creating core values, but actually “walking the talk” and putting them into action. One of the recent ways by which we demonstrated our commitment to several of our core values is with the introduction of the Stay Interview.
According to Richard Finnegan’s book “The Stay Interview: A Manager’s Guide to Keeping the Best and the Brightest“, which we used as our resource guide, Stay Interviews should be conducted at least once every five years for true ROI measurement.
The purpose of the Stay Interview is multi-faceted: both to gain real insight into how employees feel about their personal and professional lives, and what we as managers – and as a company – can do to help support them.
We conducted our interviews in a private and efficient way, using the same set of 12 open-ended questions with all staff and keeping all answers confidential. We limited interview conductors to two people. These should be respected and trusted colleagues, as it advances trust and interviewees feel like their voices are being heard.
You gain so much clarity when you conduct Stay Interviews, and you can use the solicited feedback to implement key strategies that provide multiple benefits to the company and beyond, such as: employee retention, work/life balance, reinvigorating company backburner projects, and setting realistic long-term manager-employee expectations.
A few examples of our Stay Interview successes:
- We gained a stronger understanding of business unit structures that weren’t working as efficiently as they could be, so we created a system of smaller team structures that provides staff with more opportunities for group content sharing and support.
- We identified a need for more cross-training and created opportunities for Sites Selection and Registration teams based on what each member of those team members are interested in.
- In addition to these larger-scale structural changes, Stay Interviews helped us identify quick fixes, such as securing new computer software for a staffer to make her daily work life easier.
As an organization with the mission to bring people together, we do the same for our employees, and make their experience at Meeting Expectations one of mutual understanding and purposeful growth potential. Because if they feel the love, they give the love in return, which makes for happier team members and ultimately happier clients.
I highly recommend implementing Stay Interviews as a part of your overall management strategy to fuel a stronger and more productive team. Learn more about our company culture and benefits.
