Prior articles have discussed giving feedback as a good thing for supervisors to do. But if not approached carefully, it can cause issues.  Today’s article focuses on the problems that can come out of giving employees feedback and how to prevent those things from happening.

Possible Unintended Consequences

Negative thoughts may pop up after an employee hears that their job performance needs to improve.  These thoughts will stand in the way of moving forward.

Some people may overly personalize the situation and worry that their supervisor doesn’t like them.  Others could be coming to work every day in fear of making mistakes, getting formally disciplined or fired.  There could be uncertainty whether or not they’ll be able to make the changes that are required.

Emotions fueled by negative thoughts like these can lead an employee to behave in one or more of these unproductive ways:

• Spend too much mental energy worrying, they lose focus on the work and make more errors.
• Become completely paralyzed by the fear and uncertainty, their work slows way down.
• Spend time discussing the issue and negative feelings towards the supervisor or the organization with other employees, reducing productivity for all involved.
• Spend time and energy looking for a job elsewhere, which if done during work time will cause their output to drop.
• If improving seems too insurmountable to them, they may not even try to improve, but rather wait to be fired in hopes of collecting unemployment.

The secret to ensuring none of these things happen is for you as the supervisor to be supportive.

Expect the Best

Before you can effectively support someone, you have to truly believe they can succeed.  If you’re typically a negative Nelly, it may take some mental gymnastics on your part to think positively, but you can do it!

It may help to remember the fact that most people are capable of doing a lot of things.  Often the issue isn’t ability, it’s something else.  This is why working with the individual to uncover the reason they’re not meeting expectations in a particular area is so important.

If the employee is the one feeling that the change is too much, rather than taking the outlook that if they don’t think they can change they never will, consider that the feedback was a hit to his/her self-esteem and that confidence is at a low point. How can you help them see things differently?

What would you say to a friend or family member in this situation?  You’d boost them up and tell them they could do it, right?  Although an employee is not your friend or family member, you are their coach and that’s exactly what coaches do.

Help them see the situation from a more positive light.  If your confidence is greater than their doubt, it can be instrumental in turning their performance around.

Where to Start

There are three different points where you can and should provide support.

• The initial feedback meeting
• Formal follow-up meetings
• Informal, daily support until sustained change is achieved

The Initial Meeting

One of the most impactful things that you can do to is express confidence that the individual can improve during the first feedback meeting.  The underlying messages to, “I know you can do this with a little extra time and focus” are 1) I believe in you and 2) I want you to succeed.  This goes a long way toward preventing the employee from slipping into the belief that you are trying to fire them or that the expectation is too high and they won’t be able to meet it.

The second most important thing you can do to support someone during a feedback meeting is to set a schedule for follow-up meetings, typically weekly or every two weeks.  Then stick to that plan!

The first meeting isn’t meant to be a wave of a magic wand that improves the person’s performance. Its purpose is to lay the groundwork for future discussions and development.

Follow-up

The employee will likely have a variety of emotions that come up for them in the hours, days and weeks following your discussion that didn’t rise to a conscious level during your initial conversation.

This is why it’s so important to touch base with them later the same day, the day after and every day after that until performance has consistently improved.

Whether the setting is formal or informal, this follow-up allows you to provide resources, get an idea of how they’re feeling about things, and to provide encouraging words.

The most important part about coaching a person to improve is to be consistent.  It can be natural to give a lot of attention to the person for a few days or weeks, then to either assume they’re on track or to simply get busy and stop checking in with them.  Since it takes time for new skills and habits of behavior to become firmly ingrained, by not following up consistently over time, you risk a back slide in progress.

The best way to ensure consistency is to schedule the follow-up, both formal and informal, into your calendar so you won’t forget or run out of time.

Stay Positive

The theme throughout this article is positivity.  Helping another person to acknowledge the present situation while encouraging them to focus on a better future is a trait of highly effective supervisors.

Even in unrelated interactions with the person, be sure to greet them warmly, smile and ask about their day.  They are watching you closely to get a sense of how angry or frustrated you are with them.  When they know you’re feeling positive toward them, they can turn their attention to focusing on trying to improve.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and personal experiences! Please post them below.

Check back over the next few weeks.  I will continue to describe other keys I’ve discovered to successfully giving employees feedback.