Personally or professionally, regular follow-ups are a way of life, and essential to everyone’s development. With phone calls lately being an integral part of business communication, and the inability to meet in person, the way review calls are handled can make or break your relationship with your employees.
Let it happen enough times, and the business will start to suffer. Managing a review call isn’t just about being effective and efficient, it’s to approach it with more in mind than just a regular performance appraisal. You can do so in nine steps.
Yes. No. Okay. Your review calls cannot be as simple as that Asking effective questions isn’t always easy, but what you ask (or don’t ask thereof) can have a major impact on the efficacy of your review calls. Bearing this in mind, the following aspects are to be avoided for asking questions.
Leading on the team :“You already took care of the campaign audience, right?”
Multiple choice questions / Multiple questions: “Did you change the campaign audience last week, last month or has it been even longer? Do you know if it was effective? Has anyone else responded to it recently?”
Rambling on : “Have you ever changed the campaign audience? You know, you really need to change the targets every month, maybe more depending on the social media activity. I knew this company that…”
The examples given may seem conversational and harmless, but in a professional context, they bring in unnecessary variables that may confuse the team. A more direct “When was the campaign audience last changed?” would have done the job.
Relationships on any level involves a give and take. A useful conversation requires that too. The review call is only as effective as equal portions of give and take. If you do all of the talking, you won’t get your team’s input. But if you’re doing all of the listening, then you’re not asking the questions necessary to draw insights from what the team may have in mind.
Managing the review calls means to understand and learn the team’s pain points, and communicate your value proposition effectively. In the process, you have to keep the conversation balanced.
Be sure to give them time to answer before asking your next question. If the team feels like you’ve run down the conversation, interest in working with you any further will be unlikely.
Asking your questions and listening to the answers is important. While you shouldn’t interrupt, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask follow-up questions if you require more information on any aspect.
Follow-up questions are also useful in being able to guide the conversation, especially when dealing with a team with all members wanting to say or ask something. In other cases however, the hesitation may stem from the potential embarrassment of asking what may seem a “stupid” question. This can be enough to keep them quiet entirely.
Besides upping the review call’s efficacy, asking follow-up questions also shows you’re listening, and that you care about building a long lasting relationship
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