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Sustaining the Journey Archive
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February 15, 2010
The Performing Conversation
This month we are exploring the work of Ford and Ford and four conversations they suggest as means for achieving results. This week's conversation particularly links to the support functions of collaborating, consulting, and evaluation.1
Virtually everything done in an organization is done because people make requests and honor their promises.—Ford and Ford, p.112
This conversation is often the least developed in many organizations. Ford and Ford state, "Accountability has two sides: We cannot hold someone accountable for a result unless we ourselves are accountable for setting up the promise and supporting the agreement."
The intention of this conversation is to make a request regarding performance and to get agreement on what actions will be taken to achieve results. This is not an evaluation conversation. Evaluation conversations are about past actions; this conversation is intended to develop agreements about future actions.
This conversation is extremely important because research by the American Society of Training and Development has found that employees are six times more likely to act if they have made a commitment to do so. The research is synthesized in the chart from page 100 of The Four Conversations:
| Condition |
Likelihood of Doing Task |
| If you hear an idea
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10% |
| If you consciously decide to adopt it
|
25% |
| If you decide when you will do it
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40% |
| If you plan how you will do it
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50% |
| If you commit to someone else you will do it
|
65% |
| You have a specific accountability appointment with the person you have committed to
95% |
95% |
While the Initiative Conversation is general, the Performance Conversation is specific. The "why" part of the conversation is critical in developing a common understanding of the importance of the actions. The "when" is also critical because without deadlines there is no immediacy required. "When" can easily become "whenever." In this conversation, the first three questions in the 6-question structure are emphasized.
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- When do we want to accomplish it?
- Why is this important?
- Who is involved?
- Where will the resources come from?
- How will it get done?
When are Performing Conversations used in your organization? What skills from Cognitive CoachingSM might be critical to success in these conversations?
1Ford, J., & Ford, L. The Four Conversations: Daily Communication that Gets Results. San Francisco, CA: Berret-Koehler, 2009.
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