Reflective Recognition Questions

Reflective recognition gives you, the leader, a window into what matters most to another person while at the same time, helping employees get to present their own progress and accomplishments. What’s more? When employees stop and reflect on their own achievements, how they’ve tackled challenges, and how they’ve made progress, it is great for engagement, too. The first step is to empower your employees to … [ Read more ]

5 Questions Every Manager Needs to Ask Their Direct Reports

Before asking questions as a manager, it’s critical to know what motivates employees to stay with an organization and why. Gallup research shows 12 needs managers can meet to improve employee engagement, including:

  • Prioritizing employee development
  • Facilitating a sense of purpose
  • Caring about employees
  • Considering employee opinions
  • Focusing on employee strengths

These five measures map closely with research recently published by HBR on [ Read more ]

360-Review Questions for an Executive

  • What do her strongest allies say about her?
  • What are her strongest strengths?
  • What do her harshest critics say about her?
  • What are her development opportunities? Her weaknesses, blind spots, and obstacles?
  • When she is trying to influence you, how does she do it?
  • How do you describe her leadership style?
  • What environments bring out the worst in her?
  • Do you think she’s more external facing or more internal facing? Do you

… [ Read more ]

4 Employee Recruitment Questions to Ask

  1. Who is in our target market, and where will these ideal candidates find us?
  2. How is our culture reflected in our branding and job advertisements?
  3. What attracted our best candidates to us, and what do they want out of a career?
  4. How are we tracking where our best candidates come from and what they want?

5 Onboarding Questions

Here are the five questions every employee needs to have answered if they are to have an exceptional onboarding experience:

  1. “What do we believe in around here?”
    Naturally, there’s a lot of “nuts and bolts” material that must be communicated during an orientation. But all those little details are expressions of your organizational culture. How you explain your benefits, time off, and other policies — and

… [ Read more ]

HR Analytics Questions

In thinking about using analytics to power HR decision making, HR executives should ask:

  • Are we using analytics effectively to monitor HR performance and drive improvements?
  • Can we use employee segmentation to deliver increasingly tailored HR services to groups and individuals in the workforce?
  • Are we able to “look ahead” to identify employees who are at risk of leaving, or to predict team and individual performance?
  • Are we using

… [ Read more ]

HR Integrated Talent Management Questions

In thinking about integrated talent management, HR executives should ask:

  • Does our technology work across functions, or does it enforce traditional silos?
  • Can we easily inventory skills across the global organization and match that against future business needs?
  • How does development, compensation and performance management work together to engage and retain our high performers?
  • Do our systems support an individualized, “workforce of one” approach?
  • Are we able to clearly align

… [ Read more ]

Strengths-Based Questions

If you’re involved in activities that you’re already naturally inclined to do well, your attitude toward work is different and you contribute more to your workplace compared with someone who may have similar skills but less natural ability. Doing what you do best is essential to being a star performer at work. As an employee, you should ask yourself these questions:

  • Do I know what I

… [ Read more ]

4 HR Analytics Questions

We have identified four critical areas where organizations can focus their time, energy, and resources to more effectively use analytics to improve workforce productivity and capability.  Answering these questions is critical to demonstrating how the human resource function can add substantially to the strategy and operations of the company.

  1. Based on the organization´s strategy, what is the work that needs to be done, and are the

… [ Read more ]

Collaboration Assessment Questions

As organizations consider candidates for collaborative leadership roles, they should ask the following six questions:

  1. Can this leader achieve results by influencing rather than directing?
  2. Can this leader share ownership, even if it means sharing credit and rewards?
  3. Can this leader delegate and let others deliver results?
  4. Has this leader demonstrated the ability to motivate groups of diverse individuals who may not share her viewpoints or perspectives?
  5. Has this leader

… [ Read more ]

Turning around Problem Performance in Five Questions or Less

The following series of five yes-or-no questions can help you manage future performance in a new way. Your answers will steer you toward a turnaround conversation appropriate to the situation and the underperformer.

Once you become familiar with the questions you´ll be able to assess which conversation is needed in a matter of minutes. You´ll be on your way to managing underperformance instead of living … [ Read more ]

Training Questions

There are different levels of questions, based on Kirkpatrick levels and clearly in increasing importance, that must be asked:

  • Did they (trainees) like it?
  • Did they learn?
  • Did they use it?
  • Did it impact the bottom line?
  • What is the Return on Investment (ROI)?

Source:
Training: Rounding up the Usual Suspects
by Abhay Padgaonkar
The CEO Refresher, February 2007

Position Evaluation Questions

  • Do you have a simple, clear and consistent method of ranking positions throughout your organization, on a global basis?
  • Do you have an accurate, easy-to-use means of ensuring internal equity across job families
  • How do you currently ensure that your organization has a reliable base for determining pay for positions?
  • Do you have an effective means of measuring your organization’s position against the market?
  • Is your organizational structure

… [ Read more ]

Performance Appraisal Questions

  • The reason the company created this job is to …
  • The most important ways a person doing the job should spend time are …
  • The two or three most important duties of someone in this position are …
  • If someone asked me what it takes to be successful in this job, I would say …
  • The easiest way to determine whether this job is being done well is

… [ Read more ]

Morale Questions

Conditions affecting morale are varied and complex. If you are wrestling with this issue you should find guidance by answering these questions:

  • Look at your performance appraisal system. Does it hold people accountable for results that depend on a bigger process than they control?
  • Is everyone in your organization well-trained, informed, and involved?
  • Do reward systems encourage and reinforce high performance?
  • Do you aggressively measure

… [ Read more ]

Job Performer Performance Questions

  • Are job outputs and standards linked to customer and process requirements?
  • Are process requirements reflected specifically in the appropriate jobs?
  • Are job steps in a logical sequence?
  • Have supportive policies and procedures been developed?
  • Is the job environment ergonomically sound?
  • Do performers understand the outputs they are expected to produce and the standards they are expected to meet?
  • Do performers have sufficient resources, clear

… [ Read more ]

HR Governance Questions

  • How efficiently and effectively does the HR function deliver services?
  • How effectively is the function focusing on priorities and completing milestone tasks?
  • Is HR managing its finances prudently, complying with legal, regulatory, and internal requirements?
  • How do HR customers rate their service experience?
  • And, most important, how is the HR function contributing to the value of the organization?

Source:
Unfinished Business: Mastering … [ Read more ]

How Should We Manage the Intangible Assets Vested in Our People?

  • Can we measure the trade-off between an investment in our culture and an investment in new products or services?
  • How should we balance cultural continuity against the need to adopt fresh ideas and practices?
  • How can we build a “talent brand” to attract the best people?

Source:
The talent-growth dynamic
by Andrew Doman
The McKinsey Quarterly, 2000 Number 1