Giving positive feedback is easy. But what about those times when an employee is not performing as well as you need them to, and you need to give negative feedback? That can be a different story, especially for those who do not like confrontation. Managers need to be careful when dishing out negative feedback and need to make sure that it is done constructively – the last thing you want to do is demoralize your employee.
While these conversations can be a bit awkward, when done well, constructive criticism can push your employee to do better work, which benefits you, your fellow employees and the company as a whole. Here are a few tips to make the conversation go smoothly.
Don’t be mean-spirited.
If you only give negative feedback, people will distrust it — and your feedback becomes useless. Don’t make employees feel like burdens and don’t condemn them for their shortcomings. Business isn’t just about business; it's people working with people. We need to be sensitive to the feelings of others and know that how we treat them will bounce back and hit us and affect our feelings as well.
Employees respond well to compliments and are far more likely to be open to and listen to criticism if their positives are also acknowledged. That way they are less likely to feel victimized and inadequate for their jobs. Acknowledge any positives the employee may have achieved first.
Be tough, not mean.
“People naturally help those who support them.”
Feedback is crucial. It improves performance, develops talent, aligns expectations, solves problems, guides promotion and pay, and boosts the bottom line.
Every employee should be given a chance to improve and deliver on expectations. Focus just on the situation or expectations, and avoid bringing up other issues. A clear compliment or a brief critique goes a lot farther in the moment than a rehash of old incidents. Be compassionate and courteous about human failures.
Try to dish out negative feedback in small doses. It can be overwhelming for an employee to be bombarded with a list of things they are not doing right — especially if they've been doing something incorrect for quite some time. When you need to deliver negative feedback, do it shortly after a situation occurs, and keep the conversation short. The worst thing you can do is blindside a staffer with a list of critiques.
Be positive.
Give at least as much positive feedback as you do negative. Positivity stimulates the reward centers in the brain, leaving the recipient open to taking new direction. Negative criticism turns on the threat response and defensiveness sets in.
I'm not at all suggesting you avoid the corrective feedback — just make sure you present a positive solution or outcome. In other words, keep it balanced. Start by stating something they’re doing well. This will give them an example of how the employee is successfully meeting your expectations.
Recent studies have shown that most employees really do want to know what they can be doing to perform their job better. As a matter of fact, those who favored constructive feedback also rated their managers highest for being honest and straightforward. Before your next performance review or check-in, remember: your employees want to know what they can do to improve their performance. It's your job as a manager to guide them with feedback, both positive and constructive.
Find a solution together.
After you lay out your comments, give your employees a chance to respond so you can see it from their perspective and properly address the situation. You may not know the full story — maybe he/she was trained improperly by another employee, or they didn't know guidelines had changed, etc.
Remember: Your job is to give your employees perspective on their actions. Give suggestions of ways they could adjust their performance and ask what steps they think they could take.
And finally, ask for advice on how you can help them to achieve this goal. Remember, people have a habit of becoming what you encourage them to be, not what you nag them to be.
John Tschohl is an international service strategist and speaker. He is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minn. Described by Time and Entrepreneur magazines as a customer service guru, he has written several books on customer service including "Moving Up." The Service Quality Institute has developed more than 26 customer service training programs that have been distributed and presented throughout the world. Tschohl's monthly strategic newsletter is available online at no charge.
