5-5-5, It’s a conversation, not a review

In order to be a great boss, you have to know what’s going on with your team.  It is difficult to support them if you don’t know what is going on.  In an earlier post, I wrote about driving accountability with the LMA tool.  Some of the pieces in the accountability puzzle are providing clear direction, clear expectations, and consistent communication.

This is going to surprise some people, but the easiest way to find out what’s going on with your team is to simply have a quarterly conversation with them.  I know, I know… it is a novel concept.

Notice I called it a conversation.  It is not a review.  It is much less formal than that, perhaps over lunch.  Even though it is informal, it still makes sense to work from framework.  It will help provide consistency and clarity.

EOS has a tool, we refer to as the 5-5-5, that helps provide a framework for successful 1-1 quarterly conversations with each of your direct reports.  Here’s how you use it…

1. Speak with your direct report about the 5(ish) company core values.  You should both be living and breathing them.
2. Speak with your direct report about the 5(ish) roles they own in their seat on the accountability chart.  This helps provide clarity.
3. Speak with your direct report about their 5(ish) ROCKS.  This will help ensure you’re both aligned on the most important things to accomplish over the next 90 days.

Within this framework you discuss what’s working, what’s not (read issues), and next steps.  As issues arise in the conversation, don’t be alarmed as they are just issues and you know how to solve issues (IDS, identify discuss solve).  Issues from quarterly conversations should fall into one of three buckets:  something they can solve, something that can’t be solved, and something you need to solve.

Most of the issues should be things they can solve themselves.  Coach them and guide them on how they can solve the issue.  You don’t want to create a bottleneck where you’re the only one solving things.  This is an opportunity to empower your team to make decisions.  Questions like “What do you think we should do?” go a long way.

Some of the issues will be things that can’t be solved.  Simply acknowledge the pain, explain why it is that way and why it won’t change, and ask for their understanding on it.  There will be some people who appreciate the honesty and truthfulness.  And there will be some who can’t get past it and end up leaving.  It just is the way it is.  But it is better to be open and honest about it.

A few issues will end up being things that you need to solve as a leader/manager.  Just do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it and you’ll be fine.  It builds trust.

As you embark on having quarterly conversations with each of your direct reports, here are a few best practices to keep in mind…

1. Keep it informal (offsite… over coffee or lunch?).  The communications will be more effective if you’re both relaxed.
2. It’s a conversation, not a review or a lecture.  Talk less.  Listen more.  You already know what you think.  You want to know what your team thinks.
3. As you help them resolve issues, there should be a clear plan of next steps.  Focus on severe clarity (who is doing what and when).

Now, to review… er… recap, quarterly conversations help give you a pulse on what’s going on with your team and allow you to better support them.  The 5-5-5 tool helps provide a framework that drives consistency and clarity in the conversations.