Preface

We developed the idea of stay interviews in 1997, before publishing the first edition of Love ’Em or Lose ’Em (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1999). It came from work with an organization worried about losing a key group of talent. We suggested that they ask those people “What will keep you here?” and then use the responses to craft their retention strategies. It seemed so basic and so simple. Yet, up to that time, managers seldom asked that question in such a straightforward way. Or they asked it in an exit interview, which is almost always too late.

Managers today need leadership tools and techniques that they can deploy easily and that make sense. The stay interview is one of those tools. We’ve seen that managers who practiced stay interviews and then took action not only retained talent but also developed more engaged, committed, and productive teams. Some organizations have even mandated stay interviews and hold managers accountable for reporting on what they are learning.

Stay interviews have caught on. Now thousands of managers in hundreds of organizations, large and small, are using this simple, straightforward, easy-to-implement strategy. We wrote this playbook to outline the process, give hints and tips about dealing with tough requests, and share stories of managers who’ve been using stay interviews to keep their valued employees engaged and on their teams.

This book offers you a simple idea. It is designed for the not-so-simple task of letting talented people know that you value them, need them, and want them to remain as contributing members of your team.

BEV AND SHARON

stay in.ter.view

adjective, noun

• a conversation between a manager and a valued employee

• an opportunity to learn more about an employee and to show you care

• a chance to find out what might keep an employee in the organization and or on the team

• a chat that causes employees to feel highly valued

• a process found most effective when repeated often