Run Stay Conversations to Understand What Each Person Values
A stay conversation asks a top performer what keeps them and what would make them leave, while there is still time to act on the answer. It is not a review or a status update but a planned, private talk about their experience and future. Held twice a year, it surfaces what energizes them, where they want to grow, and what would pull them away, long before those show up as a resignation. The manager's job is to ask, listen more than they talk, and commit only to what they can deliver.
Proficiency Level
This is a preview of how skill assessment works in Admire
Measurable Behaviors
Behaviors are optimized to be directly observable for evidence-based skill tracking.
Ask what energizes and what frustrates the person in their current role
Asks what the person values and what drains them, then stays quiet so they do most of the talking.
Document what each person values and revisit it in the next conversation
Records what each person values and any commitments made, and references them in the next conversation so continuity is visible.
Listen without defensiveness when hearing criticism or concerns
Acknowledges a complaint about pay, workload, or direction and asks a curious follow-up instead of rebutting it on the spot.
Schedule a planned, private stay conversation with each top performer at least twice a year
Books a dedicated, private conversation at least twice a year, flagged in advance as being about the person's future, not a status update.
Surface each person's career goals and what would prompt them to leave
Draws out where the person wants to be in a few years and what would make them consider another offer.
This is a preview of how behavior tracking works in Admire
What Mastering Stay Conversations Looks Like
Mastery shows in conversations that stay open under criticism and build on each other. The manager draws out goals and dealbreakers, stays curious when a complaint surfaces, records what matters, and follows through, so the next talk references the last and the person sees the record is real.