Conversation Catalysts

Some of you are now ready to have stay interviews with your talented people. Others have asked us to share some sentence starters to kick-start these conversations. We’ve categorized these according to what your goals for the stay interview might be and what you hope to learn about your talented employee.

Empower the employee.

“I’d like to know what you would like to talk about …”

“Let’s plan our time together …”

“I hope you’ll feel free to initiate these chats in the future …”

Double-check what you know.

“From our past conversations, it would appear …”

“It seems you really like to …”

“Last time we talked, you mentioned …”

Find out something entirely new.

“It would help me to understand better …”

“We’ve never talked about your …”

“You know, I really don’t know how you …”

“Have you ever thought about …”

Inquire about putting an action in motion.

“If you could do X, would that cause you to …”

“What if you were to …”

“What if I could …”

“What if you could …”

“What if nothing changed around …”

Learn about an attitude or feeling.

“So how do you feel about …”

“How would you feel if you took on …”

“Would things change for you if …”

Confirm whether an idea might work.

“So if I were to do … you would …”

“So if we could do … that would increase your …”

“So let me recap: we’re saying that …”

“Are you committed to …”

Questions are important. Listening to the answers is even more important. Beyond listening, your response (both verbal and nonverbal) is crucial. Answers such as “That’s unrealistic” or “Tell me why you are worth that” will halt the dialogue and cause employees to clam up—maybe permanently. Instead, tell the truth about the barriers to saying yes, and at the same time demonstrate that you care enough to get creative and to go the extra mile for your talent. Then dive deeply to find solutions that work for you, for them, and for the organization.