Using positive feedback to fix a problem.
Employee performance feedback - Who wants it?
Let’s face it: Giving your staff negative feedback sucks for you and your employee. You can bet your employees don’t like being told what they’re doing wrong. So do you sit back and tolerate poor performance or do you bite the bullet and give negative feedback? The thing is, when your employees do something wrong it’s your job as a boss to fix it. So what if there’s a better way?
Why be so negative?
Picture Carol - The problem employee
- It’s a small issue, I’ll wait to see if it becomes something worth fixing,
- I don’t want to seem petty and risk my staff hating me,
- I don’t have the time this. I’ll save it for the performance review, and
- Carol always get’s defensive and has an excuse for everything.
What About You?
Start With Awareness of Where Your Excuses are Self-Limiting Beliefs:
- Bad performance affects everyone on your team,
- Your inaction sends the message that you condone this behaviour
- When employees don’t perform you have to work extra hard as a boss.
Realise the Cause of Your Self Limiting Beliefs
Performance management - A better way
- “Good morning Carol. I like seeing you at the desk when I arrive because I know there is someone here to greet our customers.”
- “Good morning Carol, I’m glad to see you on the desk. When you’re there I know that everyone else can get on with their jobs without having to worry about covering reception. I appreciate that. Can you please keep that up?”
- “Good morning Carol. I’m glad to see you here before start time – now I know I don’t have to worry about covering reception. Can you please continue with that?”
Secret ninja management skills:
- There’s no unpleasantness, confrontations, disagreements or delays and
- The feedback is super quick and simple
Performance results and other benefits
Take the Positive Performance Feedback Challenge:
- Think of the things that your employees are doing wrong. Can you find 5 examples to write down? (This is the easy part!)
- For each of these: write down:
How much time this costs you and the company
How much money this costs in terms of lost sales, extra costs etc.
How this makes you feel - These are the problems that you have to fix and how much they are worth to you in terms of time, money and your personal wellbeing.
- Use positive feedback to change these behaviours
- How much time this costs you and the company
- How much money this costs in terms of lost sales, extra costs etc.
- How this makes you feel
Summing up
Management Skills Tip: When you’re practicing your employee performance feedback, a safe place to practice is in your one on one meetings with employees. My tip is to download this one on one meeting form, where you can make a note of the employee feedback that you want to give and practice it before the meeting.
Looking for more info? :
This isn’t just feedback, this is Effective Feedback which uses specific motivational words tested to be effective. Effective Feedback is a Communication Skill. You can’t increase your IQ but you can increase your EQ (Emotional Intelligence) by improving your communication skills.
Improve your management skills with the online management course “The Power of Positive Communication”. This shows you how to improve employee performance quickly and effectively and without confrontation. Improving your management skills will not only accelerate your own promotions, bonuses and increase but also give you the confidence that you can deal with any employee problem.
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