Feedback

Today’s workforce is seeking recognition, approval and most importantly, feedback!

Employees and contractors today want to know where they stand, how they are a part of the team, and what their opportunities are for their future.

 

Today’s workforce is seeking recognition, approval and most importantly, feedback! They actually want progress reports versus older workforces that wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible. Maybe this stems from their youth sports days where everyone received participation awards. Employees and contractors today want to know where they stand, how they are a part of the team, and what their opportunities are for their future.

They are more “me” focused than ever before.

Handshake between two colleagues dressed in shirts and ties as the share feedback on performance likely using similar tools recommended by Knighthawk Consulting

Providing feedback keeps everyone on “the same page.”

My leadership role models taught me to praise in public, punish in private. I think this still holds true. And interesting enough, while younger workforces crave feedback, whether it's good or not-so-good, they still report they want it. They have been raised on a constant refrain of “good job!”, regardless of the result of what they just did. The phrase “good job” at some point replaced the phrase “good try.” We used to applaud efforts even in case of failure with a “good try,” but now we say “good job” even when they clearly miss the mark. I’ve seen enough Little League strikeouts, missed free throws, or other less-than-successful performance incidents previously equated with failure, but still eliciting the effusive phony praise from helicopter parents and coaches/professors/teachers to managers and bosses. “Good Job!” for doing what? Failing? What does that really mean when they do succeed, or even excel?

We’ve created a younger working generation completely conditioned to receive feedback for EVERYTHING.

Here’s an encouraging trend. Many younger generations recognize this pattern and are starting to question it themselves. They want their accolades to mean something and use them as an indication of whether they should do more of “that,” self-correct, or seek support/training to get better. What a great opportunity to provide some “old-fashioned” mentoring!

Accountability seems to have been downsized and not replaced in many workplaces.

When leaders and managers are not honest, confusion creates a bigger question of whether what they’re doing is right for them. The wrong feedback can then create a greater disconnect between management and the employee or contractor.

A tried-and-true convention in the military training environment is the concept of measuring competency against Task, Condition, and Standard. Every competency is defined and measured for proficiency by these three criteria.

·       Task: what must be done/performed

·       Condition: in what manner and with what equipment or atmospherics must the task be done

·       Standard: to what degree/level it must be accomplished (time, frequency, speed, accuracy, etc.)

It’s important to tell your team if they’re getting it right, but even more important to tell them if they’re not. And with these three criteria, it’s easier to determine WHY they aren’t getting it right so you can provide corrective action.

 Not everyone understands this: how to deliver feedback, how to set expectations, and how to recognize when the communication is poor and requires adjustment. When and where do we lack the elements of training, skill, or talent to get it right? Answering that allows us to identify what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.

So again, this can be a good thing. Your team is literally telling you what they need to make them happy, productive and purposeful. There are simple and clear ways to measure productivity. Having defined ways to measure success helps both management and teams.

When everyone understands expectations, then accountability, loyalty and retention can reemerge stronger in the workplace.

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