Performance Talk:
The One-on-One Part of Leadership

Comparison with some Other Leadership Books

Supervisory leadership is the component of leadership that deals with one-on-one relationships and communication with subordinates. Many leadership books ignore this aspect entirely. The ones that address it fall into three categories.

There are theory books such as Kouzes and Posner's, "The Leadership Challenge." They offer lots of theory, but their key advice on the one-on-one parts of the job usually boils down to non-specific advice like, "be fair" or bad advice like "set your subordinate at ease with small-talk."

Performance Talk differs from the theory books because of its practical focus. Readers learn specific ways to prepare for a supervisory interview with a subordinate, as well as specific techniques to use in the interview itself.

Some material on supervisory leadership comes under a heading I call "this is how I did it." Portions of Jack Welch's recent book, "Winning" would be in this category. These materials convey strategies and tactics that worked for one individual.

Performance Talk is different from the "this is how I did it" materials because it lays out a systematic way to prepare for and conduct supervisory interviews. Because it's based on behavioral science research, Performance Talk describes a system that any supervisor can adapt to his or her own personal style and circumstances.

Finally, there are fable books. The original of these, and still one of the best, is "The One Minute Manager." Fable books use a story to convey a limited amount of material in a very short book, usually with large type and lots of white space.

Performance Talk is different than the fable books in two ways. First, the story is more complete and realistic. Second, there is an extensive resource section, support web site and additional materials that enable a supervisor to use Performance Talk as the starting point for self-development and make it easy for trainers to use in a corporate setting.