Four reasons why giving great feedback are important
- Owners/managers are more consistent
By following up and providing feedback on a consistent basis, staff know where they stand, they clearly know what is required to perform at the required level. If they slip below the required level, they know they will receive feedback so there is a consequence for poor performance. My belief is that all motivated staff want to know where they stand, how they are doing, where they can improve, and they want this feedback to be consistent. By being consistent, owners/managers will get the best out of their teams. Staff know where they stand, they also know that they are treated the same as their colleagues which leads to your team being happier at work.
- Poor performers are exposed
One of the biggest frustrations to good performing staff is when poor performers are not dealt with. This causes a lot of frustration as the good performers see that the poor performer’s behaviours and attitude are not being dealt with – they are allowed to get away with it. This can often cause the bad behaviours and attitude to influence the good performers therefore reducing overall productivity. Another big challenge is that good performers often suffer the double whammy – they see poor performers getting away with it and they suffer as they have to pick up the slack – very demoralising.
This often causes the issue I mentioned above, your good performers start to think “what’s the point”, so they too start to slacken off. Good quality consistent feedback never allows this to happen. Poor performers are dealt with so their behaviour and attitude doesn’t get a chance to spread. Good performers remain positive and motivated as they see things are dealt with. Poor performers know where they stand and also know that they are dealt with fairly if they performance doesn’t meet expectations.
- It’s required by law
As you know, it can be very challenging these days to fire someone as well as very time consuming. A task most owners/managers want to avoid as it is usually quite confrontational. I regularly ask this question of owners/managers “how easy is it to get rid of someone?” The answer is “very challenging, there are lots of steps to go through”. I believe their needs to be a process to protect employees from unscrupulous employers, however it sometimes goes too far in the employees favour. But owners/managers need to follow a process so the staff member understands clearly where they need to improve and gets a chance to do so. The law generally requires owners/managers to go through a number of steps, starting with verbal warnings and finishing with written warnings.
This is exactly what coaching and giving quality feedback is all about. In fact the coaching process kicks in immediately there is an issue and identifies the area that the staff member needs to work on. I believe that coaching will reduce the number of poor performing staff as the issue is dealt with immediately. It will also lead to a reduced number of staff going through the warning process for the same reason. In my experience, most poor performers who are receiving regular feedback to improve their performance do one of two things – they either improve (which is the result you want), or they leave. So to avoid the challenge of going through the disciplinary process, owners/managers need to spend more time coaching in the first instance – a process that is much easier to do and has a much better outcome.
- Feedback lifts overall performance
I believe most staff want to do a good job, the reasons they don’t are they receive little or no feedback. If they are doing well know one tells them, if they aren’t often nothing happens as well (unless there is a customer complaint or a mystery shopper). To ensure that all your team are motivated and heading in the right direction, daily feedback is required. Owners/managers need to let their individual staff members know how they are going – whether good or bad. If quality feeback is provided consistently and regularly then this will lift overall performance of your team.
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Retail Solution” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service and selling skills.
