Leadership Lessons: Everyone Deserves Feedback

Feedback is a gift that keeps on giving....

Whether constructive or positive, performance feedback lets employees learn what's working and what's not working. In today's competitive market, this is priceless information.

Some Perspective

Have you ever seen a team leader overlook a hard-working employee for a job well done? How many times have you seen a team leader fail to give appropriate feedback in the face of poor performance? Perhaps positive feedback is easier to give, but many managers avoid giving negative performance feedback like the plague. Either way, performance feedback is critical to the development of employees.

Unfortunately, all too often, employees don't get the feedback they need to improve. Here's an example I recently observed...

Jane was an employee in a major manufacturing plant. Jane and her supervisor, Ellen, had worked together for five years. Ellen began to notice Jane's productivity slipping, but she hesitated to discuss the issue with Jane.

Jane was having problems understanding a new procedure. Her lack of clarity was negatively affecting her performance, but she thought she was doing just fine. Three months elapsed, and Jane's productivity continued to suffer.

What was going on here? Ellen was avoiding the discussion, and nothing was getting resolved. Ellen's hesitation was partially about the uncomfortable feeling she would get when talking about poor performance. Ellen felt the feedback conversation would be a personal attack on Jane. The other part of Ellen's concern was that she did not have a clear process to follow to provide the feedback that Jane needed. Ellen did not know how to stay objective and handle the situation effectively, so she hesitated.

That hesitation did not give Jane a chance to explore her difficulty with the new procedure, and this situation led to months of low productivity for Jane and the group. In the end, Ellen was forced to take disciplinary action with Jane, rather than the "corrective action" she could have taken earlier. Ultimately, the issues were properly resolved, but along the way productivity went down, and both Jane's and Ellen's reputations were damaged. At least now, they were on the right track.

Do situations like this occur in your organization?

A Solution

Performance feedback has three basic benefits:

1. Structured regular updates on how well individuals are performing to standards. It's an opportunity to both address potential concerns and praise excellent performance.


2. Ongoing performance feedback leads to more accurate team member self-perceptions, clears up misunderstandings, and gives the team member a chance to ask questions.


3. Ongoing performance feedback provides an information base for later management decisions on human resource issues such as pay, promotions, transfers, assignments, or termination.
   

Think about your organization. Here are two questions you need to ask:

1. How accurate and timely is the current performance feedback?


2. Does it advance the goals of the organization?
   

With the proper skills, your team leaders will be able to provide performance feedback in a timely and high quality manner. This professional environment will increase the number of positively motivated employees who create momentum and productivity in your organization.

Our "Providing Performance Feedback" 4-hour skill building classroom workshop will help your managers effectively learn skills such as:

1. How to identify what maintains or improves performance in your organization


2. How to effectively provide performance feedback


3. How to make performance feedback a job function that managers won't dread

To learn more about "Developing Performance Goals and Standards" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum download this 4-page PDF or watch this brief video.

The Vital Learning curriculum is available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options and includes the following essential topics...

Disciplining - understanding how to discipline others to eliminate problem behavior
Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
Developing Performance Goals and Standards - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards
And more...
For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org