Sunday, October 27, 2024

Give simple, straight-forward, and timely feedback...


Don’t get me started on performance evaluations – it’s been my experience that most people don’t like giving or getting them. 

·      Not that they aren’t important, because it’s good to get feedback. The key is to make them timely and objective, something the annual programs miss – unless supervisors keep good notes, it’s hard to remember what happened on any given day.  It’s probably better to give that feedback every day, complete with compliments or coaching, contemporaneously pointing to what just happened. 

·      Not that they aren’t helpful, because that kind of feedback helps improve competence and confidence. The key is to make them meaningful – focusing on how someone has improved rather than micro-managing what they just did. Nobody likes criticism (and that’s how most of these reviews are perceived) unless it’s constructive.

Listen to yourself, put yourself in your employee’s shoes, and imagine how you’d feel if the roles were reversed. Be specific – give clear examples of what’s expected. Be thoughtful – consider all that’s going on. Be positive – let them know the distance they’ve traveled from the point where they started. Your objective should be to help them be as good as they can be. And. The best way to do that is to give simple and straightforward feedback today.

 

Henry Ward Beecher (1813 – 1887): American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery and his emphasis on God's love.G

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