Interview Often… Listen Genuinely

People often associate interviews only with the hiring process – big mistake. Interviews have so many other applications and can be a valuable instrument in your leadership toolkit.

It’s easy as a leader to give directions and lead from the front. But listening is a lost art these days. There are two applications of interviews that I have found extremely valuable and foster better listening skills.

The first is when doing any sort of turnaround – organization-wide or just a team. I learned early on in turnarounds I led, that the more questions I asked, and the better I listened, the quicker I was able get things moving in the right direction. It initially appears somewhat contrarian to listen first, since time is of the essence and getting results is critical, but learning from the people on the ground can provide incredible insights.  I often found that they already had the solutions to some of the key problems being experienced – just nobody listened in the past.

As a result, I came to spend the first 30 days just interviewing people. Really learning from the team – and there was a twofold benefit. They’d usually help me solve problems faster than I could have on my own, and the interviews set the tone about the type of culture I was trying to set up – open, transparent and mutual respect. Everyone needs to know that we’re all on the same team.

The second application of interviews is what I like to call “stay interviews.” So often we’re only focused on interviewing people when they leave our organization. We’re interested in finding out why and learning how to avoid making the same mistakes. Although exit interviews are important, an even better practice is to interview your team while they’re still with you. What you’ll learn can be amazing – not only about your organization, but more importantly, about you.

Any time the economy improves, holding on to your top talent becomes more difficult. Do you know your team – really know them? What they like about their job, what they’d like to change? Their aspirations? Their challenges? How you can help them grow? The sooner you can move them to wanting to stay, the sooner you can tap into their potential and create a two-way road of benefits.

As a leader, make interviews a key part of your week. There’s little to lose, and much to gain.