"Great job - well done..." or "You need to improve..."

Which one would you rather feedback on?

Giving honest feedback is one of the hardest skills to master...

A manager in Belgium eases employees' tension by giving advice and feedback throughout the year

The annual and dreaded performance review. Do you prepare for it? It is a waste of time? It's your personal review...so prepare!

"What You Tolerate Becomes Your Standards." This is a critical management philosophy that will assist you in driving high performance. When your employees are not performing, here are the steps to take to analyze why that performance is lower than the standard and suggestions for imbedding this philosophy into your organization's culture.

Do you have people in your office that dislike each other?  Do they cause problems for everyone else?  Conflict in the workplace is a painful reality. 

The goal is to recognize friction and tension and deal with it before it escalates into a major problem.  One point is clear--conflict does not magically go away if ignored.

Certain types of conflict in the workplace, such as sexual harassment and discrimination, are very obvious and readily identified.  Other forms of conflict may not be so easily identified. 

Feedback is a valuable gift,
but unless it is delivered properly,
it may not be appreciated.

Delivering Feedback

Feedback on performance is essential for improving performance. The way feedback is delivered, however, can have a tremendous effect on its receptivity. Here are some thoughts on giving and receiving feedback that might be helpful to you.

There is a noble promise at the heart of the new world of business: Everyone has the right to meaningful work, and people who do meaningful work create the most value in the marketplace. Even as the talent wars have fizzled into pink-slip parties, few senior executives would dispute the vital importance of finding, engaging, and developing the best people. Ask any CEO, "What's your company's most precious asset?" Without hesitation, the answer will be, "Our people." Ask the same CEO, "What's the primary source of your competitive advantage?" Chances are, the reply will be, "Our unique culture."

In my town there’s a lawn service that comes by three or four times a year to check up on the lawn. They examine the grass for diseases and apply a little fertilizer and other treatments to keep things going. They finish after about 10 minutes and then head off to the next lawn.

All managers expected to carry out performance appraisal should have some training. Ideally this should not just be on the skills of performance appraisal � the �how to do it, but also on the reasons for performance appraisal the �why we do it. Managers should understand how it fits into the wider strategic process of performance management and how the information and data generated contributes to understanding of the capacity of the human capital of the organisation to contribution to business strategy and value.

I have always worked with the following formula:

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success.

I first learned of this particular concept of strengths and excesses in the context of annual performance appraisals. Periodic performance feedback, coupled with an annual performance appraisal, is an integral part of a well-run business. Honest appraisals which inform the employee of his or her development needs are critical to helping the employee improve. They also help the business improve because its employees are improving their performance. It’s a “win-win” proposition.