Why the conversation before the ‘conversation’ makes all the difference.
Most of us dislike the task of giving a colleague or employee critical feedback and it is easy to see why. While our organisations spout the virtues of feedback and coaching, few offer actual incentives for taking the time to give feedback well. Offering honest feedback can drain us emotionally and may harm our relationship with the receiver. And most of us would admit that we are not particularly good at it, and in fact we may not even know what ‘good at it’ looks like. Our training is in engineering or marketing or chemistry or finance or maybe even psychology, but we were never trained in how to offer challenging feedback in a way that promises to make things better rather than worse.
There is plenty of data showing that these feelings are common, and not surprisingly, shared by feedback receivers as well:
Only 28 per cent of employees believe their managers focus on more than simply completing forms.
63 per cent of executives surveyed say that their biggest challenge to effective performance management is that their managers lack the courage and ability to have difficult feedback conversations (Study on the State of Performance Management, Fall 2010). The easiest path for any manager is to do the bare minimum to get the box checked, and to stick with positive platitudes. ‘At least’, we tell ourselves, ‘we are doing no harm’.
But in our heart of hearts, we know that is not true. We know our inaction imposes a cost on our colleagues by depriving them of the chance to learn and improve. Feeling guilty, we circle back around: I should really offer this person genuine feedback this time. But then we imagine just how poorly that might go and decide to skip it. Hey, there is always time for honest feedback down the road.
The bind
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2019-Ausgabe von Indian Management.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2019-Ausgabe von Indian Management.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Trust is a must
Trust a belief in the abilities, integrity, values, and character of any organisation is one of the most important management principles.
Listen To Your Customers
A good customer experience management strategy will not just help retain existing customers but also attract new ones.
The hand that feeds
Providing free meals to employees is an effective way to increase engagement and boost productivity.
Survival secrets
Thrive at the workplace with these simple adaptations.
Plan backwards
Pioneer in the venture capital and private equity fields and co-founder of four transformational private equity firms, Bryan C Cressey opines that we have been taught backwards in many important ways, people can work an entire career without seeing these roadblocks to their achievements, and if you recognise and bust these five myths, you will become far more successful.
For a sweet deal
Negotiation is a discovery process for both sides; better interactions will lead all parties to what they want.
Humanise. Optimise. Digitise
Engaging employees in critical to the survival of an organisation, since the future of business is (still) people.
Beyond the call of duty
A servant leadership model can serve the purpose best when dealing with a distributed workforce.
Workplace courage
Leaders need to build courage in order to enhance their self-reliance and contribution to the team.
Focused on reality
Are you a sales manager or a true sales leader? The difference, David Mattson, CEO, Sandler® and author, Scaling Sales Success: 16 Key Principles For Sales Leaders, maintains, comes down to whether you can see beyond five classic myths that we often tell ourselves about selling.
