By: Kristina Bors, HR Director, BDO
Audit and advisory company BDO came in fifth place in 2021 fifth place in the ranking of Norway's best workplaces. "An important focus area for us at BDO is ongoing 1:1 dialog between manager and employee," says Kristina Bors, HR Director at BDO. "The days are busy and many employees work on projects and assignments with people other than their manager - it can take a long time between each time they meet. That's why a few years ago we introduced the 15:3 interview: a tool that helps managers and employees set aside time for the necessary dialog. The 15:3 interview takes just 15 minutes, requires no preparation, is easy to conduct and has proven to be highly effective.
Dialogue between manager and employee is important
BDO has 1,550 people in 75 offices in Norway. Many spend much of their time out with clients on assignments and projects. Long periods can go by without the employee and manager seeing each other. Ongoing follow-up and dialog between manager and employee can then become a challenge.
BDO has a structure around a semi-annual/annual development conversation, where plans and goals are set for the next year and a longer 2-4 year perspective. BDO also has a structure for giving and receiving evaluations (feedback on assignments/projects). This is usually an exercise that takes place between the assignment manager/project manager and the employee, and not between manager and employee (apart from the manager seeing the evaluation). These conversations become something else - and do not respond to the need for employees to be seen in a closer way - more often.
Read also: Collaboration across the board - a demanding art
More than an internal HR exercise
Kristina explains that one of BDO's starting points when it comes to employee development processes and activities is that they must be appropriate. They should be perceived as useful, relevant and business-oriented - not "just" an internal exercise that the HR department pushes down their throats. They should "want" to use the tool - and they should feel that it adds value.
Kristina Bors, HR Director, BDO
"We know that ongoing 1:1 dialog between manager and employee is a key driver of intrinsic motivation and engagement - but we also knew that we weren't very good at this at BDO," says Kristina. "We wanted to find a solution to this - one that would get managers and employees to prioritize this form of dialogue, which is informal but still has elements of structure in it.
"One of the employees in the HR department came up with the idea of the 15:3 interview. We all agreed that it was a brilliant idea - we tested it out on a number of managers and employees, and the response was positive. We launched quickly - without long descriptions and explanations. Fascinatingly, the organization absorbed the new "tool" almost immediately. Many offices started using it the very same week, and more have joined in over time. We haven't said it's a requirement to use 15:3, but we've recommended everyone to use it.
An executive at BDO says the following:
"15:3 makes it easier to engage in dialog with my colleagues. It becomes an informal discussion forum that allows you to talk about how you feel at work and come up with solutions for improvements. We have 15:3 meetings once a month, and we always meet at a coffee shop on the way to the office in the morning."
How 15:3 calling works
The 15:3 appraisal is integrated into our employee development portal (Skills Portal), along with our other tools (development plan, evaluations, etc.). The interview can be registered here, but it's not a requirement if you don't want to. Many choose to do so, as they find it nice to look back and see that they have had these ongoing conversations. The 15:3 conversation can take place in a coffee shop, in the canteen, in a taxi on the way to a customer, in a meeting room, really anywhere.
In the conversation, you have the form with the questions available (via mobile, PC or tablet) and can choose whether you want to fill in the answers or just talk about them and leave the fields blank. "The point is to talk together, and the questions are there to help you get started," says Kristina.
The questions for the 15:3 call are:
- Are you having fun at work?
- How are you enjoying your current tasks (challenges, development, expectations, goals and feedback) and is there anything I can help you with?
- Do you have any suggestions for changes/improvements?
Finally, the employee is given the opportunity to roll a dice with a rating of 1-6 to answer "Overall, how are you doing?"
Perceived as a useful tool
"The feedback on the 15:3 interviews is very good, with managers and employees reporting that they benefit greatly from the interviews," says Kristina. Department managers and the HR department can easily produce reports showing the results of the 15:3 interviews, including the dice rolls. This is also a golden opportunity for managers to "take the temperature" in their department.
All in all, we are simply proud to have developed and launched such a simple tool that has proven to have such a great effect - where the dialog between manager and employee has become better, closer, more frequent and more relevant," concludes Kristina.
