- Key insight: Discover how question-driven, whole-person leadership improves retention, engagement and work-life balance.
- Expert quote: Anne Grady: "You can't expect innovation when employees are threatened, overwhelmed, or exhausted."
- Supporting data: Fewer than 20% of employees say their manager motivates them.
- Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
While benefit leaders are often focused on
Asking the right questions can reveal what makes team members feel valued, and with their feedback, leaders can create tailored support that keeps them
"You cannot expect people to learn new things, innovate, create, or try new things when they're in a state of threat, overwhelm and exhaustion," Grady says. "Goals, KPIs and strategic objectives and performance reviews are all very important, but we can't just measure performance. We have to measure the whole person that makes performance possible."
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Getting to know your employees better
Understanding the whole person means being truly invested in how people are doing, both in and out of work, Grady explains. So she starts with a question that covers both: What does work-life balance look like for you right now?
"It's all life balance, and work is part of that. How are you giving your employees permission to work in a way that works for their needs, as well as the company's?" she says. "This question will look different for all of your employees. [Figuring this out helps them to] get the right work done and [not] burn out in the process."
The next two questions are specific to work: What energizes or drains you in your current role? and, What's one thing we can adjust to help you work (and feel) better? When a leader takes an interest in the things that encourage team members or hold them back, they can find ways to infuse enjoyment, lift burdens and fuel better outcomes, Grady says.
"Fewer than 20% of employees say their manager motivates them to do their best work," she says. "In a day and age where the world can feel heavy, the leaders who approach their teams like this don't just get better output and performance — they get healthier people who want to stay, who feel safe and [who] have less stress."
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Solving immediate issues
The last three questions create intentional focus on real-time task concerns and solutions: What part of last week was most stressful for you? What's one thing we can do to make next week easier? and How can I best support you right now? This shows genuine interest in ongoing improvements to your team members' workflow, along with any outside hindrances. Maybe they can benefit from automated support that saves them time, or maybe they need more schedule flexibility to balance work and family responsibilities.
Grady also encourages leaders to ask questions that reveal team members' communication styles, citing examples such as: What type of recognition makes you feel great? What type of feedback makes you feel awful? What's the most effective way to communicate with you? If I need an immediate response, do you prefer slack or teams or text?
The more leaders develop connections with employees, the better off their team's productivity and performance will be, especially as the workplace evolves, Grady says.
"We need human-centered skills to be able to lead in a digital world, and part of a leader's job is succession planning and strengthening the people under them," she says. "The skills that are going to be needed in the future need to be modeled now, and that means having conversations now."
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Walking the walk
In order to look after the needs of their employees, leaders must look after themselves, Grady stresses. All of these questions can be applied to their own personal and professional life, work habits and satisfaction.
"You have to make sure you're balancing your own needs," she says. "You've got to be willing to model the behavior you want to see … otherwise you're just providing lip service."
Check out more ways leaders can connect with their teams:
New leadership at Target, Walmart and Bridgestone West focus on employee connection Managers are missing opportunities to connect on mental health Tiffany Dennis uses social connection to improve workplace well-being How to preserve human connection in a tech-driven workplace How Amex GBT promotes virtual career growth and connection with benefits
