It’s January, and the Most Important Question You Must Ask Your Employees is, “How’s it Going?”

January 22nd, 2015
Written by: Elizabeth Richards

January is a great and important month. It’s an opportunity to set a new or renewed tone with your team regarding goals, performance, culture and values. You want the message to be that the coming year is going to be your best year yet—different and better than previous years.

Here is one simple way for leaders to start the year on a constructive and collaborative note. Ask your team a simple question:

“How’s it going?”

Asking employees “How’s it going?” accomplishes a number of important things:

• It shows you’re interested in what the world looks like from their perspective.
• It will reveal things you did not know that might help you do your job better.
• It could elicit body language that tells you you need to dig deeper.
• It may encourage the recipient to listen more carefully to their team members. 

Why January?

You’ve spent weeks or perhaps months defining your 2015 strategy and plan. Asking how things are going at the beginning of the year is a great way to find out how the year is starting. So if there are issues and opportunities to address, you want to know earlier in the year so you can correct course as needed.

Who should I ask?

Ask sales. Ask HR. Ask customer support. Ask engineering. Ask finance. Ask marketing. Ask your assistant.

How should I ask it?

Ask slowly—don’t act rushed. Be genuine. Wait for an answer. Make eye contact. Engage. Ask for clarification. Take notes.

When should I ask it?

Ask it at the beginning and end of departmental status meetings. Ask at your staff meetings. Ask after presentations. And definitely ask it during performance reviews.

Where should I ask it?

Ask it in the hall and in the kitchen. Ask it in the parking garage. Ask it in the conference room.

What should I do with the answers?

Most employees understand that being asked “How’s it going” is both practical and symbolic. They won’t expect everything that comes out of their mouths to become your top priority.

With that said, you will likely get some answers that point to actionable and timely insights. In some cases you’ll hear things you need to validate from other sources before determining whether and how to react. And in some cases you can acknowledge that, while the employee’s response is something to think about, it may not be addressable in the immediate future.

The key is that asking “How’s it going,” at the beginning of the year is an exercise in both gathering information and setting the tone that listening and taking action are critical skills for your organization to succeed in 2015.