The Key to Building Effective Teams

How do you guild an effective team?

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager

The Gallup 2013 State of the Global Workplace study concluded that only 13% of employees are committed to innovation and organizational development.  That means the vast majority of workers are either checked out or unhappy in their jobs.

The lack of feedback contributes to employees feeling disengaged.  Every manager is responsible for providing employees with feedback about their performance – both praise and feedback for improvement. Yet too often feedback misses the mark. It is either too vague, or too late, or it is not given at all.

A dialogue that includes feedback is important. 

It is a powerful yet underused management skill.  It builds trust in relationships, contributes to professional growth, and recognizes team members’ skills and contributions.  It also clears up misunderstandings, preventing small issues from growing into larger management challenges.

 

Often managers avoid giving feedback because they are either unskilled, uncomfortable or don’t want to hurt someone else’s feelings. Yet avoiding potential confrontations just makes matters worse.  And by failing to recognize your team’s contributions, you run the risk of contributing to their disengagement.

 

Feedback is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3.   (1) Identify the specific behavior, (2) describe the impact, and (3) discuss the future desired behavior.  Instead of telling someone “great job!” it has so much more impact if you tell them what they did to made it great – you do that by identifying the specific behavior or step 1.  And if you need to discuss something that isn’t working with someone, feedback works best when you spend the majority of your time on step 3 – talking about the future desired behavior.   You can’t change the past so don’t dwell on it – no one likes to be reminded of what they should have done. Touch on it and talk about the future by offering skills, tips, or suggestions about what can be done better next time.

 

Making Feedback Work:  the Key to Building Effective Teams by Elaine Holland is a quick reference guide to help you learn how to give effective feedback.  For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, Making Feedback Work is available on Amazon.com.

Did this blog help you? If so, it would mean a lot to me if you would share it with others!!! And, share your comments below!

Much Success!

Have an outstanding day!!

 

Sara