Tell them how to do a better job to improve performances!

It is not because they did not work well, but there is always place for improvements. Whether it is to improve the service's or the company's objectives, the actions of the employees must be directed in a way to achieving them.

Without having the wrong intentions, employees take actions every day, at any time. These have to lead the company towards its reason for being - whatever it is. We need, from time to time, to rectify some actions because: either they prevent from reaching the set goals, or they create a non-desirable behavior.

So, the more the management will quickly take action towards those unwanted actions, the more it will make sure that these adjustments will be understood, put into practice and will know how to prove their legitimacy.

I'm talking about developmental feedback.

This type of feedback is to create awareness and responsibility or ownership of the work by the employee, which in turn leads to increased self-trust and self-reliance. The coach or supervisor creates awareness in the employee by doing these three things:

1. Observing:
    A coach (or supervisor) has to have a good idea of what is being done and of what must be carried out to bring the proper correctives. The observations of a behavior will do so that we speak about something precise, seen, observed and analyzed.


2. Reflecting:
        What do we see exactly? The observed behavior really thwarts in the efforts dedicated to the reached goals. Must it really be corrected? If yes, up to what     degree? Dash head lowered in a rectification of the actions can undo the first intention which is to improve performances. Thus, it is necessary to prepare your approach.

3. Asking open-ended questions that compel the employee to engage and get involved:
    Here, one of my preferred rules in training applies: it is the one who speaks most who learns most. Do you want them to know or do you want them to understand? Giving the answers to the employees will only dictate them the     behavior and not to think about it. You need them to realize the impact of their actions.

This type of feedback helps the employee collect and formulate his/her thoughts before s/he can articulate his/her responses and evaluate his/her own work and thereby become more self-reliant. And it is exactly what we want: employees who can work by themselves and not being constantly behind them.

How to get there?

First of all, it is necessary to begin the discussion in the same way as we gave the behavioral coaching or positive feedback. This brings us to where I left off last week (click here for the article). Talk about a precise situation, mention which action was taken and give the result of such action. It's coming back to you now?

Let's take the following situation, a restaurant example: say you observe Simon. He is quite well with a customer but you judge that he would have been able to do better: either for the customer, or to be more effective. It is busy, it's lunch time. There are many customers and we run everywhere just to save time to serve the hurried customers. Simon crosses near a table where the customer just ended her meal. He brings back the basket of bread to the kitchen.

Well, to say the least, he brings back something to the kitchen, thus he saves himself some steps. However, you notice that he has to return to the table to see if the customer wants something else. If he had asked her at the time of seizing the basket, she would have said that she wanted the bill and to settle quickly. Instead, he has to return to the table.

He could have been able to do better, even more effectively.

You tell him: "Simon, you did well to pass by table " 2 " and to take objects to be brought back to the kitchen. You saved yourself some steps, thus time."

Here, we have a strengthening of a behavior seen fit (pick up the basket of bread) and we notice that there is time-saving. A 2nd action would have made the first one even more effective (stop and ask if the customer wants something else) and we would have obtained a better result (print the invoice in the same walk).

In order to have a change in behavior and so that Simon can think of it the next time, the constructive feedback aims at bringing him to see the same situation from another angle.

We add 2 stages to our approach:

1. The other situation: "what would you have been able to do to be more effective?" There, we have a 2-minute discussion and we rectify, right now, a situation which has the potential to be improved and which encourages the employee to continue in this direction.

2. By discussing the situation, we put in the foreground the other result which we would obtain if we brought a corrective measure: we increase the efficiency, save time and we have an even happier customer!

" If, in passing by, you had asked the lady if she wished for something else, you would have been able to save even more time. Go straight to the terminal and print her the bill. "

There is a multitude of situations where we can bring small adjustments while motivating the employees and by giving them the autonomy which they needs to carry out their tasks. The idea is to keep the objectives in mind and to always correct the behavior, and not the person. Let me know how it goes for you!

Francis Prézeau
Owner/President
f.prezeau@signaturecanada.ca
Phone: 514-923-8155
signaturecanada.ca