I thought I knew what my employees needed.

I was completely wrong.

The Question That Changed Everything:



"If you owned the company, how would you change your position?"

The answers shocked me. Problems I never knew existed. Solutions I'd never considered. Opportunities I'd completely missed.

The Strategic Interview Framework:

Essential questions for every employee:

 1. What three things are working well?

 2. What three things could we do better?

 3. Describe the current culture vs. the ideal culture

 4. What would make your friend want to work here?

 5. What would you warn them about?

Why This Transforms Business Efficiency:

Your employees experience problems customers never see and opportunities you can't identify from the executive suite.

Systematic employee interviews reveal business optimization goldmines hiding in plain sight.

The Innovation Discovery Process:

Ask: "How could we innovate to make this role better?"

Employees closest to the work often have the best ideas for improving financial performance and profit margins.

Revenue Growth Through Employee Insights:

Happy employees create happy customers. Understanding what makes employees happy requires asking-then acting on what you learn.

The SWOT Analysis Framework:

Prepare Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis from an employer of choice perspective.

This strategic view reveals competitive advantages and vulnerabilities in your talent positioning.

Financial Performance Through Action:

Interviewing employees means nothing without follow-through. Create task forces to compile information and implement solutions.

Communicate progress directly to employees, showing their input drives real change.

Business Optimization Through Culture:

Culture determines who you attract. Want better employees? Create better culture. Want better culture? Listen to current employees.

Earnings Improvement Through Engagement:

Engaged employees who feel heard and valued consistently outperform those who feel ignored or undervalued.

Cash Flow Management Benefits:

Solving problems before they drive turnover prevents expensive recruiting and training cycles that strain resources.

The Competitive Intelligence:

Employee interviews also reveal what competitors are doing right and wrong, providing strategic insights for positioning.

Bottom Line Growth Through Strategic Listening:

The companies that systematically gather, analyze, and act on employee feedback dominate their industries in talent attraction and retention.

Business Owners hire Next Step CFO to double and triple their profit using business and financial strategies that their competition isn't doing.