Sebastiaan de Ruiter wrote about it just as enthusiastically last week on LinkedIn: this year the annual evaluation interviews did not take place at Comrads in the office, but during personal one-on-one walking sessions on location. In this blog he tells more about how they approached this, but especially about what it brought.

Unnatural

After about nine months of working from home, it was time for the annual evaluation interviews. Erwin and I thought it felt unnatural to now suddenly have all our employees come to the office one by one to sit across the table from management. Not that we are so hierarchical as an organization, but such a setting now felt too distant for us. Especially knowing that over the past year the work has taken place in people's personal environments. Of course we would love to welcome everyone back to the office with open arms - whenever that may be - but the first time back in the office should be for a nice meeting and not for one of those always somewhat formal-looking evaluation interviews. And although we have also been busy video-taping over the past few months, we really don't think an evaluation meeting is suitable for Teams, not within the character and atmosphere of our organization anyway.

On-site walking sessions

To get a little more into the living environment our people have been in for the past few months, we opted for on-site walking sessions. The idea was received with tremendous enthusiasm. All employees have been thinking about a fun one-hour walk around their homes. Thus, Erwin and I walked quite a bit last week. As always, we emailed the assessment to our people beforehand. Because of the hike, the final conversation did not take place with the paper in front of our noses, but much more in a free format. By putting yourself in an environment where people feel comfortable, much deeper conversations emerge than will ever occur at a conference table. It even happened once that after an hour-long walking tour, we still weren't done talking, and decided to do another round.

What has it brought us?

By choosing this format, we had the feeling that people participated much more in the conversation than otherwise during an evaluation interview. In a conference room such a conversation is always a bit more awkward, now there was much more interaction, reaction and interaction when it came to points of improvement or strengths. The conversations really went in depth, it went much further than just going over the points on the paper in front of you. Because of the open structure of the conversation, we as management also showed more of ourselves in a way. Within Comrads we have a very open and informal culture, but whichever way you look at it, an evaluation discussion at a conference table is different from walking through the Vondelpark or across the dike along the IJsselmeer while talking. The content of the conversation was the same, but the conversation was better, flowed much more fluidly and the input truly mutual. The setting made it possible to be much more like equals in the conversation.

Stay connected

It also showed for me again have importance of staying connected. Stay in touch, don't expect people to just share things - whether positive or negative - with you through a video call or an ordinary phone call. We wish we could, and with us the proverbial door is always wide open, including digitally, but if you assume that people will just call you to tell you something they're struggling with, you're wrong. These walking sessions were organized as part of the annual evaluation talks, but it has turned out to be a very effective means of staying in touch with your home-based supporters. Previously, the coffee machine was the place where decisions were made, conversations took place and team building took place. Now that the coffee corner is a no-go-area for a while, it is important to come up with alternatives. Such a walking session is a very good one.

Cap boots

Erwin and I took away some key learning points from these walking sessions. The importance of connection is one of them. The same goes for our people. At least I haven't experienced employees calling the next day to say how cool they thought the evaluation session was. They too see the value of this. Another learning point is the added value of cap boots. We, as two real city boys, were going to do these walks on our white sneakers. That made some of our boys laugh heartily, especially the one who took Erwin up the dike along the IJsselmeer. The cap boots have now been ordered, we are ready for the next hiking sessions.

A little sparring?

So at the beginning of this new year, do you want to spar or also need a walking session to get to know each other better? That is always possible! Feel free to call 020 820 8382 or mail to info@comrads.nl.