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Transcript

How To Give Corrective Feedback To An Employee · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Giving corrective feedback to an employee is a scary prospect when you don't know how to do it or when you have had bad reactions with previous attempts.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Managers worry that when they give critical feedback to employees they may make the situation worse or they might damage relationships.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or managers worry that they take the risk and give corrective feedback to an employee and then get no or little change.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm explaining how to give corrective feedback to an employee that maximizes the chance of improvement and minimises negative reactions.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: We are covering.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, always give corrective feedback to help the employee get better.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, what to cover when giving corrective feedback.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Third, the advantages of focusing on decisions, actions, behaviours and results.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, why using examples is much more effective than stating opinion.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Giving corrective feedback is an essential task of a manager to improve their team's performance.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: When you give critical feedback in the right way, the team member will not react badly and the conversation will be a pleasant one.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't provide feedback, then it will be firstly much harder for the other person to improve.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Second, they may not realize that they are missing expectations.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Third, you are not really treating them fairly if they are underperforming or have poor behaviours.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Feedback is a critical tool of good management, and I give specific feedback to team members pretty much every day when turning around team performance and building high-performing teams.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: The first critical rule is that you only ever give corrective feedback in private.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Never give critical feedback in public or in front of other team members or colleagues.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Giving corrective feedback in public is disrespectful, it undermines the employee and damages trust.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Always give critical feedback in private.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: The first step in how to give corrective feedback to an employee is to give feedback to help and improve.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is super important to give corrective feedback with a genuine aim of helping the other person improve.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine a person you like, trust and believe has your best interests at heart, giving you feedback.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chances are you're going to listen to what they say even if it is critical feedback.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: You'll probably seek to understand why they're giving you this corrective feedback and are likely to consider changing what you do if you agree with their feedback.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now imagine how you would react if the person is angry at you, annoyed at you, seeking to undermine you, or giving you critical feedback without any attempt to help you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you would sit there not really listening and certainly not seeking to understand or make improvements.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: The more trust you have with the other person and the more effort you put into trying to help them, the more likely they will listen to you, understand what you're asking for, and take action.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: As managers, the core purpose of our job is to improve team performance.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of factors needed, and one of the most basic is helping team members improve what they do.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Give feedback in a way that maximizes the chances of the other person improving.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, Inshance.training shares people management expertise, resources and courses teaching you how to be a great manager and build high-performing teams.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've included links to additional resources in the podcast description which you'll find useful, so do take a look at these.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also visit us at enhance.training and take a look at our comprehensive course on giving powerful feedback.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: The second step in how to give corrective feedback to an employee is knowing what to cover.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Before giving feedback, think through what you're going to say.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Good feedback is specific.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Good feedback goes into some detail because with detail the other person can understand exactly what the problem is.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: When they understand the specifics of the problem, they have an idea of how they can fix that problem.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Make your corrective feedback specific, not general.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: General feedback sounds like this you're not hitting targets and you are underperforming.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or I don't feel you are professional in how you behave in the team.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Neither of these bits of feedback are specific.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: The other person doesn't know exactly what is leading to these comments and they don't really know what you are expecting them to do next.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Crucially, with critical feedback, you are not helping them improve.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Giving corrective feedback that is not positioned to help the other person improve is much more likely to produce a negative emotional reaction.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: This massively reduces the chances of any improvement.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: To demonstrate that you're really trying to help the other person, your feedback should firstly be specific so they know exactly what they are doing wrong.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, give them examples and evidence so your conversation is factually based as much as possible.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Third, explain why the decisions, actions, behaviors or results are below expectations.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, explain how they can improve.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Go through detailed steps with them to turn the feedback session into a training session.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you give specific, critical feedback with a purpose of helping the other person, they know what they're doing wrong, which helps them improve, which is exactly what you want.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: The third step to give corrective feedback is focusing on decisions, actions, behaviors, and results.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you're giving corrective feedback, it is important to try to avoid upsetting the other person, attacking their ego, their values, their personality, etc.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: If the other person feels like they are being attacked, they will go into fight or flight mode, their rational brain shuts down and they stop listening to you.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: To maximize the chances of them listening to you and staying calm, focus your corrective feedback on their decisions, actions, behaviours, and results.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: This will make your conversation with them a lot easier and more productive.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll minimize their emotional reactions.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: An example of critical feedback about a decision.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: You chose the option that maximised profits in the short term, but at the cost of alienating the team and damaging trust.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is likely to cost the company more in the longer term than the short-term savings gained.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: A better option would have been, and then go on to describe that option and also describe why it is a better option.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: When discussing their decisions, actions, behaviours or results, cover firstly what's happened in a reasonable amount of detail.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the impact of what's happened on the individuals, teams and the business overall.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Third, why their decision, action, behaviour or results was not good enough.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, how to improve going forward.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: This helps the other person understand and improve what they do.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Always focus your feedback on actions, decisions, behaviors and results of the other person, not on them as individuals.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth step in how to give corrective feedback to an employee is to use examples rather than opinion.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is really easy to fall into the trap of giving your opinion about the other person's decisions, actions, behaviours or results.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Opinions sound like this, you're not meeting my expectations, or I don't think that was a good decision, or I don't believe you're being considerate enough to your teammates.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: These are giving opinion.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: With a small amount of preparation work, you can move the conversation from giving your opinion to discussing examples and evidence.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: For example, the lack of action, specifically you called 17 prospects rather than 45 prospects, meant you missed your sales targets by about 6,500 pounds this week.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or I have three examples where I or other team members have seen and heard you shouting at colleagues this week.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: One on Tuesday around 1135, one on Wednesday at 9.30, and again that day at about 3.20.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Shouting in the office in anger is unacceptable behaviour and damages relationships and our teamwork.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these examples are discussing events and actions which resulted in poor results or poor behaviour.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Examples and evidence have a lot more credibility and it is a lot more objective.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, the other person will find it much harder to ignore, dismiss or argue against.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, examples and evidence are much less emotive.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Having conversations about examples of decisions, actions, and behaviours doesn't raise negative reactions in the same way as giving your opinion often does.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Always use examples and evidence when giving corrective feedback where you can.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So in summary, giving corrective feedback is a vital task of any manager to improve the performance of their team.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: When you give critical feedback in the right way, the team member should not react badly and the conversation will be pleasant.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even more importantly, give critical feedback in the right way, and you are much more likely to get improvement, which is the key purpose of giving corrective feedback in the first place.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: To recap, to help you with how to give corrective feedback to an employee, we have covered.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, always give corrective feedback to help the employee get better.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, what to cover when giving corrective feedback.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Third, the advantages of focusing on decisions, actions, behaviours and results, and fourth, why using examples is much better and more effective than stating opinion.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: To learn exactly what you should do when giving feedback to any employee, corrective or positive, visit us at enhance.training and take a look at our course on giving powerful feedback.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to give feedback well as a manager enables you to improve team performance, help individuals improve and communicate exactly how they are doing.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Studies show that employees want a lot more feedback.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to make yours really effective.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on how to give corrective feedback to an employee, please email me at support at enhanced.