CHAPTER TWO Is It Art or Science?

Is the stay interview an art or a science? It’s both.

The best stay interviews are a perfect blend of two things:

1. The person you bring to it. That’s about your authenticity, attitude, and mind-set.

2. The process, tools, and action steps you use. We’re giving you some of those in this book.

Great stay interviews require your genuine caring and curiosity. They also involve creating just the right questions, given your style and the employee’s. They require anticipating what your talented employees might ask of you and carefully preparing for any hard-to-deliver-on requests. And they include listening artfully as people tell you what matters most to them.