The silence is deafening!!

I was leading a workshop the other day on Performance Management and there were a number of participants lamenting how their boss didn’t give them feedback on how they were doing.

“I’d like to know if I’m on track,” one person said.
“I do hear but only when there’s a problem,” piped up another. “ I know most of the time I do a good job, but the minute something goes wrong, that’s when I hear something.”

These people had come to the workshop as they were moving into a supervisory role. Soon they would be held accountable for their employee's performance. They would be involved in planning for the future, setting goals, coaching and giving feedback, as this was now expected of them in their new position.

Clearly some of them knew what NOT to do; they knew from first-hand experience.

Their experiences caused me to reflect on this common problem. Managers know it’s important to give feedback, yet in spite of knowing they should, they don’t do it for a variety of reasons. When I asked some managers about this common lack of action, these are some of the things they said.

• I just don’t have the time, and it akes a lot of time to do it properly.
• I don’t see them very often so I can’t give feedback on what I don’t know.
• They know I will speak up if I have a problem.
• No-one likes getting feedback, so I save them the pain.
• They know what’s working and where there is a problems, they’re adults they can figure out what to do.

The interesting thing is that all of these managers thought the Performance Management activity was about telling someone how they were doing.

I like to present it in a different light.

I ask managers to look on it as a conversation where they can get insight into the employee’s job, and the challenges they face and overcome. I suggest they ask the employee to think about the past year and to identify the highs and lows, the successes and difficulties and where adjustment or modifications could change things for the better. By using this approach, the pressure is taken off the manager, AND it allows the employee to share their perspective, which is often different from what the boss sees.

I also suggest sitting down over coffee to talk about their views. There’s no need to make this a BIG formal deal. This relaxed conversational approach helps to build a working relationship that goes far beyond performance management. Once the two people are talking and sharing perspectives, then they can move on to look at places where adjustments could be made to improve results. Once again this should come from the employee. It’s about asking for ideas NOT telling them how to fix things.

“What could be done to speed up…?”
“Where could we …”
“If you… how would that build better customer service?”

If you’ve been thinking, ‘I’m the manager I have to come up with a solution’, it puts unnecessary pressure on your shoulders. On top of that, most employees will resent being told how to fix their problem, they want to solve it themselves. We’ve found that imposed solutions are often sabotaged. Then employees can say, “See I told you it wouldn’t work.” On the other hand, if the employee gives you their ideas and if you encourage them to try it out, most employees will want to make their solution a success and will strive hard to make it work out.

So before you buy in to those avoidance excuses you play in your head, take a few minutes to chat with your employees informally about the job. Listen carefully; you’ll be surprised what you learn.

In the process of casually discussing the work, your employees will know you have noticed them and their contributions, and that you believe in their ability to make a difference. That alone will make a huge difference to that employee, because, feedback avoidance often leads to employees feeling invisible, and wondering if anyone sees the difference they make. So ensure they know their contributions are crucial and that you appreciate the things they do day in day out.

Your steady, reliable, consistent employees, who may never be your star performers, are the people who especially need to hear how much you count on them. Star performers are great, and they often get lots of acknowledgement. Conversely, your difficult employees must be talked with to get them to perform and meet expectations, but far too often the quiet, dependable, consistent employees are overlooked and that’s a shame - they are keeping things going by providing your core services.

So please, think hard about how much you have been taking your employees for granted and how they might be craving some feedback and acknowledgement of their work; then take a moment to ask a few simple questions to show you’re interested. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.

If you have managed to help employees become high performers, who are happily giving their best, please share you story with us. We can all benefit from new approaches.