Imagine having a roadmap showing detailed instructions about how to keep your
valued employees at your company. Imagine knowing all the fine points that will keep people
innovating, working hard and smart on company mission and goals, satisfying your customers
and clients, and feeling fulfilled themselves…so much so they want to stay and continue to
contribute for a long time.
Try the stay interview.
The stay interview is the opposite of an exit interview. Exit interviews are useful too. But if you
want the information you can use to retain current valued staff, try adding stay interviews.
These are easy to do. They just take a little time and the discipline not only to show up and
listen well, but to follow up and communicate progress along the way. This time and discipline
can be considered the ounce of prevention well worth the pound of cure.
To get your stay interviews started, consider asking about: 1) short and long range professional
desires; 2) how they may like to grow within the organization; 3) whether they feel a sense of
purpose in the job; 4) what they need from you to do their best work; 5) what is currently not
happening at work they feel should be; and 6) whether they have the opportunity to do what they do
best every day. These questions will naturally lead to other questions.
As a leader, prepare, and then enter these conversations with an open mind and a true intent to learn,
and your roadmap will appear before your eyes.
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