Giving Constructive Criticism and Feedback

Did you ever hear the saying no news is good news?

Well if you take that approach with your employees you’re bound to have high turnover. Employees need to have constant reassurance that the job there are doing is meeting yours and the company standards. Nothing motivates employees more that knowing that their hard work is appreciated. Giving feedback to employees also makes review time easier. Employees will know what to expect and usually agree with whatever you say because you have been coaching them along the way.

When giving feedback to an employee it’s always best to

1. Focus on the desired behavior.
2. Never attack the person. Remember it’s the behavior you want changed not the person
3. Don’t let your employee sidetrack you from your plan. Some employees will try to blame other people or give excuses. Let them know you are dealing with them and their behavior and thank them for bringing other employee behaviors to your attention.
4. Don’t let them “explain away” their actions. Hold them accountable for what needs to be corrected.
5. Offer your suggestions on how they can improve their performance. You are their boss. It’s your job to help them succeed. When they succeed you succeed. You’ll have happier employees, happier customers and an overall fun work atmosphere.
6. Be a fair boss. You must follow policies and procedures yourself if you expect your employees to. No one can ever criticize you of being unfair if you follow procedures and guidelines laid down by the company. But remember be consistent with every employee. Just because a certain employee is great with customers doesn’t justify them being late. It’s your job to change that employee’s behavior of being late. If they are good with customers we certainly do not want to lose them.
7. Never embarrass your employees in front of other employees or customers. Always talk to them in private.
8. A job well done is goes a long way, but be specific. Let them know what they did that made you say “good job”. Things like “I liked how you talked to that customer”, “You handled that project that I gave you very quickly and that made my job easier.” They need to know what a good job is so they can continue doing just that.

Having employees that know the score keeps moral up and makes your job easier. It’s easier to operate with veteran employees than and new crew every couple of months because you are always hiring

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Building Trust

 

Trust is critical, particularly with today’s emphasis on team management. It is also the foundation for good relationships. Friendships, families and organizations need to operate effectively. When people trust each other, everything works better. But trust doesn’t come automatically. Trust must be earned. Some people build trust quickly. Their attitudes and behavior make it easy for others to trust them. Here are several characteristics of these strong trust builders:

They keep promises, whether to clients, colleagues, or children. You can rely on them to do what they said they would do. This person does whatever it takes to accomplish this task. If it means giving up something they want to do or staying late at work, they will do it just to deliver their promise.

They Tell the truth, even when it may be painful, or when it may be to their disadvantage. Telling the truth doesn’t mean you have to hurt the person. There are ways to do that without hurting that person. Your choice of words are critical. When telling the truth you might want to offer a suggestion. This will let the person know you genuinely care.

They are quick to apologize,when they do something wrong. They sincerely regret doing wrong to others. Let’s not confuse this with intentionally making mistakes because you believe you will be forgiven. A boss will soon find out who you really are.

They are good listeners, and they listen more than they talk. People want to be heard. Let them talk. You will have your turn. Especially when you are talking to your employees.

They generously praise people. They are constantly looking for what others do right and comment on it.

They willingly cooperate with their colleagues. They are more interested in achieving good results than in who will get the credit. When your colleagues see that they will be willing to help you.

They strive to understand how others feel. They are sensitive and empathetic to other’s feelings. They look out for other people’s interests as well as their own.

They are fair in their dealing with everyone. This is important if you are the boss. It is important that you do not play favorites. You will immediately lose trust from your employees.

They clarify their intentions so other will understand their actions.

They seek input on issues from the people who will be affected by their decisions or actions.

They are genuinely interested in other people.

Strong trust builders have a high relationship orientation. They really do care about others. They actively practice the Golden Rule, treating others the way they would want to be treated. When you demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors, people just naturally trust you more. They trust you faster, too. They enjoy working or living with you.

Behave Like You’re In Business For Yourself

Your employer wants more than your body, more than just your arms, back and brain. Your employer wants you to act like an owner.

Why is this? What does it mean?

Organizations are reshaping themselves in an attempt to become more entrepreneurial. They want to get closer to the customer. They want decisions to be made by people who are closest to the information. They want to be able to move faster. The idea is that only small units are agile and adaptable enough to thrive in today’s world of high-velocity change.

So now we’re seeing a lot of self-destructing teams. “Empowered” employees. The management ranks are shrinking rapidly, and this means more power, information and responsibility flow through to you.

You’ll need to assume more personal responsibility for the success of the entire enterprise, rather than focusing narrowly within the boundaries of your old job description. To act like an owner you need a sense for managing the whole. You need peripheral vision. If you’re going to be of value to your company, make yourself valuable. I once worked for a company where the Vice President would always look to me for information he needed. Why? Because he knew I would have it. You cannot be in an upper management position and think all you have to do is manage the people under you. You have to manage your career also. Knowing where the company is headed is one key element. Once you know that it is your job to find ways to achieve the company goals. This makes you a value to the organization. A value that they appreciate. Now if you’re doing it just for yourself, to get ahead that’s not the way to go about it. You have to really want to improve your company. When that happens you will be rewarded.

Consider how you personally can help cut costs, serve the customer better. How you and your group can add directly to the financial health of the organization.

This could prove to be more “freedom” than you prefer. For example, if you’ve found comfort in “working for somebody else”, having other people call the shots, supervise you and stand accountable for problems and results—you may start to sweat. On the other hand, behaving like you’re in business for yourself gives you the chance to really shine.

Besides all this, though, thinking of yourself as “self-employed is the mindset that serves you best in the years to come. Much like an independent contractor, you have to “build your business,” uphold your reputation, and satisfy the people who pay for your work.

So operate as if you’re self-employed, and carry personal responsibility for your own career mobility. Whether you look at it from the perspective of your employer, or from the angle that you’re a one-person show, it pays to behave like you’re in business for yourself.

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What Is A Leader

 

 

Leaders Have Vision

Leaders see possibilities that many others do not see. They see the future first. They are not given to accepting the status quo or to asking why things are the way they are. They are capable of envisioning and creating a better and greater reality because they dare to ask “why not”.  Leaders are able to get others to share in their vision and to make their visions a reality

Leaders Know Themselves

Leaders understand their own personalities, values, habits and preferences. They know their strengths and weaknesses. Leaders are aware of the effect they have on other people. Leaders purposely utilize resources, tools relationships and feedback from others to increase their self-awareness.

Leaders Create and Maintain a Balanced Life

Leaders recognize that they are more than their job or job title. They value relationships and cultivate their relationships with the important people in their lives. They eat right, exercise regularly, actively reduce stress and illness in their lives and typically cultivate a spiritual/humanitarian dimension in their lives.

Leaders Keep Up on Current Happenings

They watch, observe and listen to what’s happening, keep up on current trends, new directions and current movers and shakers. Leaders tend to see a bigger picture because they see the interrelationship between seemingly unrelated areas. They are effective in predicting future outcomes because they are able to “connect the dots” on what’s happening in the present.

Leaders Set Goals and Have A Life Focus/Life Mission

Leaders set clear and specific goals for their lives and help others do the same. Leaders write and display their goals and mark their progress. Their life has direction and meaning and they have a strong sense of their life purpose/passions. They expect positive outcomes and encourage others to do the same.

Leaders are Outstanding Communicators/Listeners

They develop their interpersonal and verbal skills. They are aware of theirs and others’ non-verbal communication. They use vivid, descriptive language to pull people into their message and help them see their vision. Although few people have formal training in listening, leaders learn to and work at improving their listening skills.

Leaders Are Team Oriented

Leaders recognize the value of creating synergy. They don’t concern themselves with personal glory. They are concerned about others and see the value in drawing out the talents and strengths of others. Leaders involve others who must live with the results of changes. They get others’ input upfront and keep them informed as things progress.

Leaders are Risk Takers and Learn from their Mistakes

Leaders use failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. When something goes wrong they don’t wallow in guilt or shame, they analyze why. Leaders ask, “What did I learn from this”? Leaders are willing to experiment and are open to new methods and procedures.

Leaders Develop Leaders

Leaders see the value of guiding the way for others to cultivate leadership. They take the time to know and care about people and spend time learning about others’ skills, ideas and hopes. They are people-people who are not easily intimidated by other rising stars. As bosses they constantly groom their successor(s). Leadership and mentors go hand in hand.

Leaders are Honest, Trustworthy and Full of Integrity

Leaders are honest and trustworthy with everyone. Even when the truth hurts, leaders know that people appreciate honesty. It is the foundation of trust and ethical behavior. Leaders operate from high levels of integrity and ethics. They do what is right, not necessarily what is popular.

Leaders are Persistent

Leaders don’t quit. When the going gets tough, they’re motivated to seek different and better ways of doing things. It is easy for a leader to be persistent because he/she has clearly established goals and a blueprint for making those goals a reality. Tough situations are perceived as challenges and opportunities, not as excuses for forfeiting goals.

Leaders are Emotionally Intelligent

People with sound emotional intelligence know and manage their emotional lives well and understand and effectively deal with the feelings of others. Good “people skills” are more important than ever. These soft skills are no longer relegated to a lesser status behind the hard skills that dealt with technology and task-related skills.

Hidden Reasons For Poor Performance Part 2

When faced with poor performance, a lot of managers opt to eliminate the employee in question rather than to eliminate the reasons behind the performance. Many managers wrongly blame poor performance on lack of motivation or on a poor hiring selection by the company. But, in reality, the majority of performance problems are caused by poor management – not bad employees. The next time you feel ready to run an employee out the door, make sure that you’re not the problem. Use the following checklist to identify nonperformance issues:

They anticipate the negative consequences for doing it. This occurs when an employee thinks there will be a negative consequence to them for performing appropriately, but there is none. Manager will state this reason for nonperformance. At times, people don’t do what they a suppose to do because they anticipate a negative consequence. Examples of this are: “I was afraid to ask a question in the meeting because I though it might be a dumb question”, “I was afraid to tell you I didn’t know how to do the job because you might think I am too stupid to do the job”, or “I was afraid to try what I thought was better way because if it didn’t work I would really be in trouble”.

   Solution: If there are no negative consequences for the things you want your employees to do, explain that to them. This is why orientation is one of the most important part of an employees job. They will know how the game is played in your organization. Let them know it’s okay to talk to the boss, no question is the one not asked, you don’t punish employees for failure when they are trying to help you.

There is no negative consequence to them for poor performance. Do you have an employee who does not follow procedures? Maybe you inherited the employee or the employee has been around for so long that he or she has never faced a negative consequence because upper management didn’t want to rock the boat? If you answered yes, you have a non performing employee because, there is no negative consequence to them for poor performance.

   Solution: You as the manager must get involved and put a stop to the poor performance right away. The employee also needs to know that your organization does not tolerate poor performance and there will be consequences for bad performing employees. When they know the consequences it will be no surprise to them when you take action. They will have known it was coming.

Obstacles beyond their control. This means there are real barriers preventing an employee from performing the job you want them to do. Unfortunately, when employees tell the boss about an obstacle getting in their way, the boss’s first response is to accuse the employees of just giving excuses or having a poor attitude.

   Solution: Listen to the employee and get involved with their work. If there is an obstacle remove it. It’s as simple as that.

Their personal limits prevent them from performing. Personal limits means individual physical limits that are unchangeable and are in fact preventing job performance. If a job required someone who was not color blind and the employee is color blind then that would be a personal limit.

   Solution: Accept the fact that when you are talking about personal limits, you are talking about an individual’s capacity. “Capacity” is defined in psychology as the highest level of performance the individual can achieve. “Capacity” is different from “ability”, which is a function of learning.

Personal problems. Now we come to the big one. This is probably the biggest reason for non performing employees. Managers vary from the extremes of playing marriage counselor, confessor, parent, psychologist, and money lender to being judge and executioner. This takes a lot of time and sometimes nothing works.

   Solution: Never offer advice. Remember unless you are trained as some sort of counselor your job is to listen. You are a manager. Your job is to be understanding and find ways to make the employees job easier at work, thus reducing some stress in their life. When employees have stress in their life they are looking for a little relief from someone. Just letting them know that their job will be secure is something they need and will help them get their work done.

Preventing poor performance. This is what you are paid to do as a manager. When you're supervising people you need to get a job done. You need to get that job done through other people. You have seen the reasons why employees don’t do what they are suppose to do. It’s your job to keep them on the right rack and steer them right if they go astray.

Click on this Performance Management link for more information

Hidden Reasons For Poor Performance Part 1

When faced with poor performance, a lot of managers opt to eliminate the employee in question rather than to eliminate the reasons behind the performance. Many managers wrongly blame poor performance on lack of motivation or on a poor hiring selection by the company. But, in reality, the majority of performance problems are caused by poor management – not bad employees. The next time you feel ready to run an employee out the door, make sure that you’re not the problem. Use the following checklist to identify nonperformance issues:

They don’t know what to do. This goes back to my previous article about proper training. An employee should not be left on their own until they think they are ready, not when you think they are. Are you paying your employees to guess what you want them to do instead of telling them specifically what you expect?

   Solution: Give employees accurate job descriptions that spell out the job behaviors you expect. Specify the steps required to accomplish each goal, the dates each step should begin and end, and the results you want.

They don’t know how to do it. People often get promoted several times without being taught how to do each job. Have you ever worked for a boss who never did the job he’s supervising you how to do? Did you have any respect for them?

   Solution: Before you promote an employee choose a person that is well trained in the position they will be taking. This of course falls on you to give that training. That person can be used to train all new employees being promoted to that position and you will be assured everyone is getting the same training. Provide training materials and manuals. After the training is done provide a test for training effectiveness.

They don’t know why they should do it. Many employees don’t see the relevance of their work.

   Solution: Explain how their particular jobs benefit the organization. When an employee sees how valuable they are they will perform better.

They think their way is better. Many employees assume they were hired to reinvent their jobs.

   Solution: Before work begins, get input from your employees. If someone presents a feasible idea for “working smarter” try it. A lot of companies procedures came from employees who do the job every day and may have a better way. But if the idea won’t work, sell them on your idea.

They think something else is more important. Some of your employees may have different priorities than you.

   Solution: Prioritize projects as you assign them. Give each employee a list of priority categories to rank assignments themselves. You should also explain to employees why one task has higher priority than another.

They think they are doing it. Many employees assume that if they are left alone, they’re doing a good job. It’s the old no news is good news.

   Solution: Give feedback several times a day. If it’s negative you want to correct the performance right away. If it’s positive it creates a pleasant working atmosphere and the employee feels they are a value to the organization.

They are rewarded for not doing it. Sometimes, poor performers are given easy assignments instead of being held accountable to work to standard.

   Solution: Monitor difficult tasks closely until performance meets your expectations. When the expectations are given it will be no surprise to the employee when you tell them the job was not done to standard.

They are punished for doing what they are supposed to do. Have you ever had an employee approach you with a problem and your response was “what did you guys mess up now”? or “ if I want it done right I should have done it myself”? These are great examples of shooting the messenger who delivered the bad news. Human behavior shows that when people do things that are followed by punishment, they tend to do those things less frequently.

   Solution: How you react to situations determines how approachable you are as a boss. If you scream at bad news all the time your employees won’t come to you and before you know it you have a bigger problem on your hand. Encourage your employees to come to you but watch how you react.

You can also find great Employee Performance Tips from this link:

Good Cost Cutting Measures

There’s an old saying that says you have to spend money to make money, actually, there’s one additional requirement—you also have to spend it wisely.

Profits are made by creating value. It is people putting materials, equipment or service together to create products that are worth more than they cost to produce. If a consumer finds that their cost is not worth the value they are getting they won’t buy it. It’s a process that requires good value judgments and cost control up and down the line. Anyone who doesn’t do his or her best to contribute doesn’t realize what business management is all about.

Controlling costs requires a team effort. You, the manager have to instill a cost conscious attitude in each of your employees. You have to watch every dime spent, every move made, every item, used all the time. Now this might make your employees that they cannot take risks and of course we want our employees to think for themselves. If you are a cost conscious manager they will know that and when they make a purchasing decision it will be in the company’s best interest. When making decisions on spending think first “do I want it?” or “does the company need it?” When making the decision you have to think that it has to benefit the company you work for and the customer. It cannot benefit one and not the other. This is easy to say and hard to do. When people want to spend money for new equipment or a new program, it’s tempting to easily exaggerate the potential savings just to make the purchase. This is when you have to think “do we want it or do we need it?” It might be a newer piece of equipment but is it really going to save the company money?

Many employees don’t really see how their everyday work affects costs or profits. Their jobs may seem far removed, or they may feel their own effort doesn’t really matter. They may believe that costs are something handled in the accounting department.

The plain truth, of course is that whether a company is a high or low cost producer depends on everybody’s work. It’s a boss’s responsibility to inform his people and educate them that big savings come from little savings multiplied over and over. They have to understand that your decision on spending not only considers the benefits but the benefits versus the cost.

People need to be cautioned not to make needless mistakes, waste materials, hoard supplies, or otherwise run up unnecessary expenses. Sometime you have to remind them that money doesn’t grow on trees and the company can’t just print it.

Some employees are careful by nature and others couldn’t care less. When you do job appraisals make sure to include cost savings measures in it.