Conflict Management - Working Through Differences
Interactive Training for Government AgenciesGive Employees Feedback the Same Way You Want It To Be Given To You
By: Ross Blake
As a supervisor or manager, you may hear responses like these when you give employees performance feedback:
“You’re just singling me out. Why don’t you go talk with Jolene and Billy, they use their cell phones whenever they want to.”
“It’s not always possible for me to arrive for work on time, my car doesn’t always start.”
As a result of hearing negative resistance to feedback like the above, some supervisors and managers hesitate to give needed feedback in the future, allowing performance issues and problems to continue and even worsen.
How can we give employees feedback when they need it and greatly increase the likelihood of gaining their cooperation to improve their performance? By giving them feedback the way they want to be given it.
How do they likely want to be given it? More than likely, it’s the same way you want to be given feedback by your own boss.
For example, suppose your boss feels she needs to give you feedback about a concern she has about some aspect of your job performance or work behavior.
How do you want her to give you that feedback with the objectives of: gaining your cooperation; resolving the issue satisfactorily; and maintaining a good work relationship with you? Chances are, you would want her to share what her concern is, and why it’s a concern; what she would like you to do instead, and why she wants you to do it that way; and to ask if you have concerns (or input) about what she is asking. By doing this, she is treating you like another adult professional.
Compare this with typical feedback sessions where managers tell employees that their performance does not meet standards; it’s harming morale and the organization; there is a warning to follow policies; and the session closes with a demand of “do I have your agreement?”
Notice how one-sided this approach is by not providing an opportunity for employees to respond, except to comply. In effect, it seeks cooperation through compliance instead of through collaboration.
In several ways, this approach encourages employees to withhold cooperation by resisting what their manager is saying; or, worse yet, to withhold cooperation back on the job by slowing work down, or giving incomplete answers and assistance to colleagues and customers.
By seeking cooperation through collaboration, you are much more likely to get the increased employee cooperation and performance improvement you desire—provided you give them feedback the same way you want to be given it.
By: Ross Blake
© 2015 Alliance Training and Consulting, Inc.
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