Giving Feedback

[tconnor]

Management Tips #259
Giving Feedback

One of the biggest weaknesses of poor managers is the lack of willingness or ability to give timely, accurate and effective feedback to their employees. There are two types of feedback: positive - recognition and appreciation, and negative – correcting or modifying behavior or discipline.

Most employees want to know how they are doing – whether it is good work or work that needs improvement. No one likes to operate in a vacuum.

It is amazing to me, after working with hundreds of organizations over the past 30 years and observing or coaching thousands of managers, executives or business owners, as to how many just don’t get this very simple management principle: you get the behavior you reward. If you want positive behavior repeated, reward it. Let people know you appreciate their effort, dedication, energy, time, etc. If you are getting negative behavior and you ignore it; it, too, will be repeated.

This is one of the concerns I have about annual reviews. If you have behavior from an employee that needs modification, don’t wait a year to fix it.

Part of the problem with negative feedback is that managers see it only as punishment or discipline. Negative feedback is designed to change or correct behavior that is inappropriate or wrong.

Always give negative feedback in private. Give positive feedback both publicly and privately. Publicly to build the self esteem of the individual receiving, as well as to send a message to other employees that this behavior is what you are looking for and are willing to reward. By giving positive feedback in private once in a while, you don’t send a message to other employees that every time you take Sally or Bill into your office they are being punished.

Surveys have shown that most employees value praise, recognition and appreciation and being valued above higher wages and benefits. When managers have been surveyed, they believed that most employees see higher wages, job security and benefits as more important than this positive feedback.

The willingness to give positive and negative feedback is often the outcome of your corporate culture.

Remember, all corporate culture, communication, attitudes are top-down. You can’t fix these issues bottom-up.

Why not monitor your feedback during the next several weeks. You could even keep a feedback journal. Every time you give any employee either positive or negative feedback record it in your journal. Not the feedback itself, just keep a tally of the number of times you give both positive reinforcement, recognition and appreciation and negative feedback, discipline, criticism or make invalidating statements.