Several weeks ago I wrote about what makes an organizational leader effective in managing conflict. In that original post, I suggested that if all managers were well equipped to lead meetings, coach employees to resolve issues directly with each other and informally mediate tensions between staff when necessary, our company’s work would dry up. I recently realized that a key component is missing from this list: Delivering Effective Feedback.
Sloan Weitzel, in his book Feedback that Works: How to Build and Deliver Your Message, shares 10 common mistakes that leaders often make when providing feedback to their employees:
10. The feedback is a question, not a statement.
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It can be helpful to use a basic 4 step model to practice Giving Effective Feedback:
Provide the context.
Describe the behaviour.
Explore the impact.
Discuss next steps.
Providing feedback to staff using this process in an ongoing way (vs. only during a performance appraisal processes) is a critical component to preventing the build up of performance related work tensions.
Sandy