Delivering feedback to your employees presents a trickier process than most managers realize. How you go about delivering a message can often make the difference between success and failure. As such, you gain a lot by knowing how to give your team the feedback they need to get better over the long haul.
Improvement is the life-blood of growing a business. To compete in a crowded market, you need to constantly expand your productivity, improve your products, and upgrade your operations. This process requires communication. However, not all business managers excel at this task.
Even actionable feedback can fall on deaf ears if it doesn’t get communicated in the right way. In other words, it’s not enough to know what you want to say. You have to think about how to say it. With that in mind, here are a few tips for giving feedback to your team:
Stay Positive
Managers often default to a negative tone when delivering feedback. In the normal course of events, you might not talk to your employees unless you have a critique of their performance.
This is a mistake. It limits your ability to improve your team’s output. Encouraging good habits is as important as eliminating bad ones. Meanwhile, if you are generally critical, you create unnecessary tension with your workers. They get scared anytime they see you coming. A positive atmosphere promotes more open communication and higher levels of productivity.
Intervene Early
Don’t let bad situations foster. If you see something that requires attention, intervene as soon as possible. This eliminates the immediate problem. At the same time, it also prevents the situation from becoming habitual, meaning that it creates a good process for the long term.
Make Feedback Routine
Sporadic feedback creates a disconcerting environment for employees. If you only talk to them occasionally, especially if the communication always comes out negative, workers start to dread that call into your office.
Eliminate this source of anxiety by making feedback a routine affair. Schedule regular meetings to discuss the current situation. These will let you make micro-improvements in their performance, as well as allows you to elicit feedback from them. This two-way communication will improve relationships and lead to a stronger team environment.
Train, Rather Than Criticize
Admonishments like “try harder” don’t usually lead to significant increases in productivity. In order to expand a particular worker’s output, you don’t just need to point out bad habits. You need to improve their work process. That requires training.
When you approach an employee with a potential improvement, take time to discuss the issue with them. It might require some investment to reach the performance levels you envision.
Don’t Embarrass
Keep any negative communications private. Embarrassing an employee might seem like an effective motivational technique. However, the cost is usually higher than the benefits you gain. The fear of public embarrassment will stifle innovation and constrict the lines of communication.
Praise Good Performances
While negative feedback should always take place in private, the same restriction doesn’t apply to positive situations. Feel free to praise your employees publicly.
Beyond this, look for ways to highlight your employees’ strong performances. The public praise becomes another way to promote positive behavior and encourages your workers to go beyond the call of duty. It also becomes an example for other employees to follow.
Providing feedback drives innovation and allows you to develop a world-class team. It helps to have the right workers in place to start with. Consulting with a strong recruiting partner, like Recruiting In Motion, can help you attract the perfect talent for your organization.
Contact Recruiting In Motion today to find out how you can find the kind of worker you can nurture into superstars.
