This virtual session builds managers’ skills and confidence in holding one-to-one conversations remotely with their staff.
The session is highly experiential – managers work together to build learning across a range of potentially challenging types of conversation.
The conversations are brought to life through the use of actors, who bring realism to the scenarios and give ‘in the moment’ feedback to participants.
Everyone gets a turn practising their skills, getting feedback from the actor and from their peers, and giving feedback in their turn. It’s a collaborative, supportive, interactive session – with real impact.
Pre-work
- Participants will be sent a welcome pack. This will include:
- Pre-reading on performance conversations, including some best practice tips and tools
- A short questionnaire designed to encourage participants to reflect on their own experience of holding performance conversations and a skills checklist to identify personal strengths and areas of development
- Pre-reading of four scenarios that will form the basis of the skills practice on the day. These scenarios will cover relevant wellbeing and performance issues as agreed with the client
Webinar outline
Designed as a highly interactive 90-minute webinar.
1. Welcome, introduction and set up
- Effective conversations, impact and challenges
- Virtual v face-to-face discussions
2. Performance conversations in action
- A short demonstration by actors of a conversation between a manager and an employee showing some good practice but with many areas for improvement
- Plenary discussion to highlight best practice, with links to pre-reading
3. Skill-building practice
- Break-out rooms used with an actor in each room to play the role of the employee. Four participants and one actor in each group
- Four individual practice sessions and feedback. All of the group are actively involved in supporting the participant conducting the conversation through observation, support as required in ‘time outs’, and in providing feedback. Individual sessions are up to 10 minutes long. In that time participants practise a high-quality conversation rather than feeling they need to complete a full conversation in the time allocated
- Plenary debrief of learning
4. Performance conversations in action
- A short re-run of the actor-demonstrated conversation to consolidate and reinforce learning
5. Actions and next steps
- Review of learning
- Personal actions
