Effective Employee Feedback Combined with Employee Recognition

Employee feedback is important, so is recognition of positive performance.  They should go hand in hand.  

Over the years I’ve been amazed at the stories I’ve heard about managers that don’t know how to give feedback to difficult employees.  So, they just avoid it entirely or just give them average feedback thinking that average is bad.   In many ways it’s like what some teachers do with their students just to get them passed and on to the next grade. 

No one wants to deal with negative performance issues.  No one wants to be the bad guy and tell it like it is, so they sugar coat things, they aren’t direct and they don’t tell the truth.  That just delays the issue and pawns the employee off to the next person who has to manage them. 

Unfortunately giving feedback and is more subjective than objective.  Everyone looks at employee feedback through their own eyes and appraise employees accordingly.  What one sees as an inadequacy, another might see as average performance or even as strength?  As much as companies try their best to appraise the performance and provide feedback objectively it’s not always easy to do.    

Of course when you do have a very difficult employee you won’t always be able to salvage them.  In those cases, it’s ok to cut your losses and recommend that they might want to look for a position that is more suitable to their own needs.  If not, they will likely become disengaged, or worse yet actively disengaged, and before you know it will have brought down some other less that engaged employees to be totally negative.  

In the meantime, do your best to know and utilize the ways to effectively provide feedback, positively or negatively.  If it is negative, when they make a concerted effort to change and improve their performance, but sure to recognize that change with positive reinforcement.  Of course when it’s positive performance and the employee’s accomplishments are particularly noteworthy, then by all means praise them and recognize them for that performance.   

Many folks have written about all the ways to give effective feedback.  We came across thisarticle from last year that we feel is well done and provides all you’ll need to know to start an effective feedback campaign for you employees.   

And, if the feedback is very positive and you are so inclined and want to give them a small reward along with the recognition, think of the Award of Choice card (a shameless plug).  It is a terrific system that gives the employee terrific choice with no administrative fees for you.