Boss

How to Provide Practical Feedback for Success Today

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Leader comm“Leadership success requires giving practical real-time feedback.”

Many employees, teams and companies fail due to lack of real-time, practical feedback. Bosses wait until annual performance review time, bringing up issues from months ago. Managers fear saying anything negative because it would reduce their likability. Most lack experience on how to turn feedback into a positive process and instead wait until it is unavoidable.

The good news is providing real-time, practical feedback is a skill that can be learned. Good leaders check on progress to provide timely feedback. They are proactive about resolving issues and not waiting until there is a crisis. Plus, they demonstrate by example how to offer and receive feedback in a constructive manner.

5 Feedback Tips for Success

  1. Do It Now. Have a conversation after a quick and thorough investigation into the complaint. Talk with all people directly involved. Listen for the core issue. Then, build an agreement with everyone involved on how to proceed forward.
  2. Build Good Working Relationships. Develop good relationships with all of your employees: full-time, part-time, contract or temporary. This builds trust and makes it easier to provide needed feedback in the future.  It also makes it easier to communicate tough decisions. Employees value well-delivered feedback from someone they know is committed to their success.
  3. Use Sandwich Approach. Here’s the formula: 2 positives to begin + 2 factual and specific concerns + 2 positives to end = positive feedback. This basic outline provides effective feedback in a manner that employees can hear. Don’t forget to listen to their POV. There will always be more than one side to any story or problem.
  4. Provide Training. Provide training on how to use persuasive listening skills to offer good feedback. Using scientifically validated job fit tools will uncover misconceptions employees have about one another … and provide invaluable laser-like coaching. This allows you to turn around tough issue easier, faster and more productively.
  5. Use 360-degree Feedback. Real-time, critical feedback can be difficult to get. Use scientifically validated 360-degree tools quarterly, not annually. Quarter reviews will provide far more powerful feedback than annual performance reviews! These tools keep individual responses confidential and encourage truthfulness. Work with your executive coach to review the results. Then, share key results with others and listen to their feedback on how to improve.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert for the past 25 years. As an executive coach, speaker and author, she provides straight talk with dynamic results. Feedback after the fact is useless. Feedback provided in real-time is invaluable. What do you need to be able to deliver and listen to feedback now? Contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation. Do it now.

7 Bad Habits that Get in the Way of Results

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Bad Boss Habits.2

Today’s podcasts and articles focus on motivating your employees to achieve amazing results. But, for many bosses, there are times it seems like a difficult, never-ending challenge.

It can be difficult to motivate others with four generations in today’s workplace. To add to the challenge, many bosses have not been well trained. Sometimes it’s the bad habits bosses learned from their own bosses that get in the way. Other times, they fail to upgrade how they talk and manage their employees.

If you have any of these 7 bad habits, get a coach and transform into a great boss.

  1. Violating Confidentiality. Transparency doesn’t mean sharing private conversations. Instead, share numbers. Share good tactical and strategic methods. Never call people out on their stuff in public. Only do it behind closed doors.
  2. Treating Experienced People Like Rookies. Talking down to people or micromanaging them won’t motivate them to do better. Instead, it can create a backlash of negativity. Talk in a respectful manner and talk straight when there is an issue. Be specific in the feedback. Listen and find value in their experiences.
  3. Threatening Jobs. Putting fear into employees rarely achieves positive results. It will also impact your relationships with clients. Job fit is the #1 reason people excel in their jobs. By using qualified job fit assessments, you will clarify “why” they are and are not successful. These tools will also improve your hiring, coaching, managing and training style.
  4. Being a Friend First. This bad habit impacts your ability to make decisions, give assignments and coach others. If you were a team member and are now the boss, have conversations with each team member to discuss the change. Boss first, and a friend second.
  5. Treating Them as Children. Too often we fail to talk and treat our employees as adults. Micromanaging their activities and insisting everything must have your approval, is demoralizing. Instead … trust them.
  6. Changing Expectations. Every employee needs consistent goals, policies and expectations to succeed. Constant changes negatively impacts employee morale. They give up, become apathetic and develop a why bother attitude. Be consistent and stay the course.
  7. Lacking Awareness. Even the best bosses value scientifically validated 360-degree feedback tools. These tools improve management styles because individual responses are confidential and encourage truthfulness. Hire a coach to review the results with you to increase your awareness as a boss. Then, share key results with employees and listen to their feedback on how you can improve.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert for the past 25 years. As an executive coach, speaker and author, she provides straight talk with dynamic results. Are your bad habits demotivating your team and negatively impacting your results? Ready to make needed changes? Don’t wait! Contact Jeannette now for a preliminary confidential conversation.