A recent Gallup poll with large companies found that 87% -- yes, that’s 87% -- of people were disengaged in their work.  

Do you find that hard to believe? I promise you that if I took a survey of CEOs, each would say, “Well that may be the national average, but it’s not the case in my company!”  It may not be, but I would challenge any CEO to explore how many people at their organization actually are disengaged.  

With year-end compensation reviews and bonus setting, we focus heavily on financial motivation. Yet top employees rarely stay “just for the money.” Recent studies show that the team they work with and the meaning of their work is even more important.

Laszlo Bock, SVP of Google’s People Operations was quoted recently saying, “People want to do more than just make a buck. People want to do something that means something.”

If a company can set up an annual review to evaluate monetary compensation, why not spend equal time on meaning compensation? Getting this right could make a big impact on engagement and identify how best to bring out the best in each and every employee.

December is often the month when CEOs and managers do annual reviews.  These exchanges can be highly energizing, but often they are completely the opposite. And executives often overlook that how you say it is just as important as what you say.

Top 3 Mistakes Most Executives Make with Reviews:

1. You gloss over tough issues that need to be addressed and disguise this lack of         candor as an effort to be kind.
2. You are overly direct and curt, demotivating the person and leaving the individual unsure of whether they really belong or fit in the company.
3. You make the review too complicated.  You have 20 boxes to check and people walk away with a lot of input but no focus on what is most important for success and growth opportunities in the upcoming year.  

While I don’t expect you to radically change the way you deliver reviews, I do challenge you try something a little different this year.  Shift your approach to be less an authoritative boss telling your direct reports what to do and more of a guide, coaching them through the process.

I was walking a senior team through a feedback session on how each team member could improve their overall performance both with the team and with others in their organization.  Two of the senior members of the team got the same feedback - ask more questions and stop “telling” so much.  The key question the two were encouraged to ask of others was, “How can I help you?”  It’s a basic question, and can be asked in ten different ways.  

As a leader, I encourage you to pick a different question below for each person who reports to you.  In one week’s time, ask each of your direct reports the question you chose for them.  Listen carefully without trying to solve the problem right then and there.  Write out a summary of what you learned and report out to your team the next week what you learned.  I bet you will get more engagement, more connection, and more energy than you have seen for a while.  Keep it short and let them know, “Here’s what I learned and here’s what I want to do about it.”  Let the team respond and if you can’t answer an individual’s question right then and there, tell them you promise to get back with them and have an answer.