DOES YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK HAVE A DIRECT FLIGHT OR ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP HAVING ALL THESE LAYOVERS?

For some managers, giving constructive feedback or suggesting areas for improvement is challenging. They are weary of possibly hurting the employee’s feelings or don’t want to be on the receiving end of a defensive attitude. Instead of getting to the root of the problem i.e. lack of focus, identify and improve task prioritization, need better time-management, inability to adapt to changing priorities, etc., they’ll avoid the topic altogether, address only the surface issue, or direct the employee without letting him or her know of their consistent failure to meet expectations. An example would be giving an employee a deadline to complete a task but not explaining to him or her that you’re setting a deadline because they are falling behind in their work or are constantly making mistakes because they spend more time at the water cooler chatting with co-workers or messaging their friends then actually working. The results of this behavior is receiving rushed and sloppy work. By not tackling the issue head-on, you’re pretty much guaranteeing the employee will continue this behavior and not meet company standards.

Every employee has a right to know if they have an area(s) of performance that needs improvement. They have a right to the chance to learn and get better. They have a right to know as soon as possible, not have to wait for a performance review where they may be blindsided. Also, why would you wait for a performance review to inform an employee of the need for them to meet expectations when they could be working on themselves immediately? Why would you let “Chatty Cathy” continue to be isolated at lunch because no one wants to spend the entirety of their precious break hearing about her weekend? Or let Todd spend most of the morning collecting money for football squares, when he has status report due at noon? Try to understand how your inability to be direct and get to the root cause of the problem have on the employee’s coworkers. Are they being affected by this employee’s poor performance? Are they being distracted? Do they have additional work because of this employee? Is the employee causing a domino effect- if he or she does not complete a project or needs additional time because of errors, does that mean others can’t meet their deadlines too? Is this causing an environment of resentment?

It is very likely that the employee is unaware it’s his or her own behavior, lack of self-management, or personality causing these performance deficiencies. When an employee lacks self-awareness and it directly effects your business, it is the manager’s responsibility to address the issue effectively with compassion and clarity.