Effective supervisors know that the life-blood of any company is feedback and criticism. While both can lead to corrective action and termination, the idea is to improve attitude and performance.
You don’t have to be arrogant or a tyrant or bully to be effective.
To read the rest of this article from the Denver Business Journal, see:
You Don’t Have to Bully to Evaluate Honestly
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/1998/05/18/smallb4.html
Although some supervisors want to improve their skills and update their approach to fit new coaching and team-work paradigms, too many hesitate, thus encouraging destructive situations. The bottom line: your team needs performance and your job is to guide the current employee or make room for someone new to produce what you need.
Feedback, even reprimand, is kinder than avoidance. Evaluating is, in itself, success.
Magical thinking - hoping people will straighten out by themselves - doesn’t work and leaves you knowing that you’re afraid to do your job.
Generally the nicest, kindest and most caring act you, as a supervisor, can make is to provide feedback that gives employees a chance to improve in the areas where they, and you, will be judged. Everyone needs to know the rules of the game.
Establish an environment of open give-and-take.
- Review often. Give feedback rapidly, accurately, specifically, tactfully, firmly, legally and considerately.
- Take care of your own mental and emotional state and prepare your agenda in writing ahead of time.
- Don’t be off-handed. Don’t be personal, sarcastic or manipulative. Focus on behavior, not on name-calling or hallucinations about intentions.
- Begin the evaluation by listing goals accomplished, progress made, special commendations. Give clear, specific examples of what you think happened and what’s not acceptable.
- Deal with things one at a time. Distinguish excuses and justifications from analysis of processes that can be improved.
Ultimately, you know you must bite the bullet and honestly evaluate performance. You’re not supposed to let things slide or make yourself a martyr by doing an employee’s job as well as your own or stab employees in the back by not evaluating them honestly.
The sooner you supervise effectively, the better the chances for success and the better you’ll feel. That’s especially important for employees on probation where “an ounce of prevention will be worth pounds of flesh’ later. You don’t have to be arrogant or a tyrant or bully to be effective.
The best way to overcome your hesitation and to learn effective evaluation skills is to hire Dr. Ben for personalized coaching and organizational consulting.
Design and implement an anti-bullying plan that eliminates the high cost of low attitudes in your workplace. To get the help you need, call Ben at 1-877-828-5543.