them to prepare for their part. Of course, the executive must ensure beforehand that
an undisrupted conversation is possible – especially phone calls are problematic.
Finally, all relevant documents, for example, guidelines and evaluation forms, have
to be compiled. This includes creating your own list of questions. Only very few
executives can react spontaneously and always ask the appropriate questions.
The supervisor should also consider what questions the employee might ask him
or her prior to the interview. Possible questions are: What do you expect from me in
the next six months? How is our company and our department going to develop?
Why did you evaluate my performance as (good/average/poor) in this category?
What career options do I have?
To clearly answer these or similar questions, the manager should consider the
following points before the meeting: What are the employee’s strengths and weak-
nesses? What proportion of the departmental and divisional goals can I delegate to
the staff? What factors influenced their behavior and performance in the assessment
period positively or negatively? What does the employee’s “personal development
plan” look like? What measures are needed in order to boost their qualifications?
In order to come to as objective a classification of the employee (if objectivity
is feasible) as possible, it is useful to honestly answer the following questions: Am
I approaching my employee unbiased? Do I have prejudices against him or her?
Which results in the past have led to these prejudices? What impact do my personal
attitude, my inner script, and my subjective perception have on my assessment of
the employee’s skills?
The interview should always be oriented on the employee. The employee should
do the bulk of the talking, and the supervisor should only direct with questions,
listen quietly, respond to the arguments of the employee, summarize the main
points briefly and then signal to the employee that they are being listened to and
understood. In addition, the manager should state the objectives and, if appropriate,
explain their own desires if they deviate from those of the employee.
In summary, one can distinguish between the following areas of preparation: the
content, the organizational, the methodological, and the psychological and mental
preparation.
Content preparation. In order to conduct a thoroughly fact-oriented conversation
you have to first collect all the relevant information associated with the occasion
of the discussion and seek to clarify the situation; then you can set the desired
objectives. Planning objectives makes it easier to lead successful and time-efficient
discussions. It also makes it easier to later evaluate the talk’s success. When
planning the goals, the following five questions need to be answered:
What are the main goals that I want to achieve?
What are the secondary objectives that should also be pursued?
What intermediate goals could there be?
Are there alternative goals?
What negotiating limit should I set for myself?
On the basis of the objectives it has to be considered what arguments can be used.
Here the manager should also examine the counterarguments to be expected on the
206 4 More Than Just Talking or: The Instruments of Systemic Leadership