WhyManagerFeedbackFails

The quarterback drops back, plants his feet, and releases a perfectly thrown ball.

How effective this passer is will depend upon how many of his passes are received. This in turn depends upon how far he can throw, how accurate the passes are, his timing with his receivers and ultimately his receivers' ability to catch and hold onto the ball.

The same dynamics take place everyday in businesses around the world. The difference is that in the working place it is not a ball being tossed but feedback being exchanged - or missed and dropped.

From boardrooms to blogs, managers everywhere are talking about performance management. The discussions are long overdue. The reasons are obvious.

Performance management is the heart and soul of execution. CEOs have identified a lack of execution as their top concern in 2007. This failure positions performance management as the strategic solution du jour, right where it belongs.

Performance management means setting clear expectations for all employees and managing the process toward those ends. In order to do that, managers need to give ongoing and frequent feedback to their employees. These employees in turn need to report their progress - or challenges - to their managers. In other words, managers need to toss accurate feedback toward employees and the employees need to be in the right mindset to receive the "toss" and run with it.

Quality feedback then requires two-way interactions: the messenger needs to be candid but empathetic. The employee must be receptive to hearing it. In other words, managers giving feedback need to give specifics about what's working or not working. They also need to be aware how employees react to their words and actions. Recipients must believe in the manager's ability to help him succeed just the way receivers need to trust their quarterback.

It's pretty well agreed that feedback in many businesses is a once a year event, isolated to the annual performance review. The exception occurs when the employee is not meeting expectations. Ongoing, continuous feedback is rare, if it exists at all. Without quality and frequent feedback - that is, practice, practice, practice - performance management will fail.

Unfortunately giving and receiving feedback is much easier than it sounds. Most efforts to improve the feedback focus on coaching and training the manager. Little if any training is afforded the employee. That would be equivalent to the quarterback practicing his passing every day while his receiving corps shows up only at game time

This disconnect between giving and receiving feedback leads to four possible outcomes - one productive, one status quo and two un-productive.

The one and only productive result occurs when the manager is candid and the employee is receptive. The "quarterback" manager releases his feedback in a way that the "receiving" employee is ready and willing to catch it. This interaction happens with regular and ongoing frequency in football stadiums across the United States on a weekly basis. In the workplace, this occurs only rarely. It's no wonder that organizations experience turnover, mistakes, and unhappy customers.

The least productive outcome takes place when the manager neuters the feedback and the employees aren't interested in receiving it. This sanitized interaction occurs when the manager is trying to be nice and the employee is too sensitive to receive it. This can also take place when the employee is overly-confident in his or her abilities and doesn't feel any improvement is needed. Whichever the cause, employee performance becomes stagnant at best and unproductive for the organization.

Now imagine that you have not only the most accurate arm in football but you can rifle a pass harder and farther than anyone. Unfortunately you don't have any receivers who can run fast enough or are willing to catch these bullet passes. If you have ever managed an employee, you have likely been in the same position- you had some important information or advice to share, but the other person could care less. This most disruptive interaction occurs when the manager is candid but the employee is not receptive. Whether the candor comes across as abrasive or just plain straight-talk to a closed-minded employee, this relationship is doomed to fail and the organization suffers because of it. Teams don't win when the receivers don't catch the balls thrown in their direction.

Finally the most meaningless feedback results when the manager whitewashes what he has to say but the employee is willing and able. Imagine having a speedy wide receiver with the most gifted hands ever to play the game but the quarterback only lobs short passes to him when he is sure to catch it. The completion rate will be high but the waste of talent and gains in performance will be weak. Complacency and camaraderie will exist but performance gains (continuous improvement) will suffer. Even worse, the talented receiver may seek out new challenges and expect to be traded to a more competitive team, leaving you with a nice-guy quarterback on a losing team.

Like passing the football, feedback requires coordination and cooperation between a manager and his report. If one fails, so does the other.

Where does a business start to improve the feedback it gives and receives? It begins with self-awareness. Self-awareness goes well beyond just taking a DISC or Myers-Brigg Type assessment. Yes, these tools are a means to the end. Too many organizations unfortunately see these tools as the end-all-and-be-all of developing employees. They are the beginning - but just the beginning.

Approaching self-awareness encompasses understanding your strengths, limitations, values, and motives. It helps an individual leverage his strengths and either improve or neutralize his limits. Equally important, self-awareness is necessary if any employee has any chance of understanding how his or her behaviors and actions impact the responses and receptiveness to bosses, peers and reports.

The role of self-awareness of the manager or a future manager is paramount in coaching other and managing performance. Without a crystal clear understanding of his own behaviors, motives, and actions, he has no chance of reaching his potential or helping others achieve their potential. As a manager, you are the quarterback of your team and it is your responsibility to know how far, fast and accurate you can throw the "feedback."

It is also a manager's responsibility to know how far, fast and capable your receivers are of catching the ball. Assessments used for self-assessment also help managers understand the unrealized talent as well as potential challenges they have sitting on the bench. Professional coaches don't just try out their quarterbacks but assess every player on their team. They know who can be a starter, back-up and player on special teams. Businesses can learn a lot from professional sports on how to hire and develop successful employees.

As I mentioned earlier, feedback is a two-way interaction and the manager must control whether the feedback he passes is aimed in the right direction and arrives in a timely manner at his reports.

To learn more about managing performance and moving toward ongoing and productive feedback in your organization, call us at 800.803.4303 or learn more about our integrated performance management system.

The latest Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey was released, and the findings should be frightening to anyone who is counting on the next generation of workers to drive their organization ahead.

Harris Interactive did the actual survey of American teens ages 13-18, and here are a few of the findings:

· 71 percent of teens say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce.

· 38 percent of that group believes it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed. In fact, some 23 percent of all teens surveyed think violence toward another person is acceptable on some level. Of those who think so, the justifications for violence include settling an argument (27 percent) and revenge (20 percent).

· 24 percent of all teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable on some level, and more than half of those teens (54 percent) say their personal desire to succeed is the rationale.

Read more about other causes of skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)

NEW Chapters! Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.

To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303. Discounts for orders of 10 or more. Specify hard or soft cover.

Self-awareness, according to Emotional Intelligence author and guru Michael Goleman, has three dimensions.

Emotional self-awareness: understand how their emotions and behaviors affect them and their job performance. They see the big picture in complex situations, setting the best course of action according to their guiding values. Emotionally self-aware leaders can be authentic and speak with candor and conviction.

Accurate self-assessment: know your limitations and strengths. They look for opportunities to learn and improve by welcoming constructive criticism and feedback. Accurate self-assessment lets a leader know when to ask for help and where to focus.

Self-confidence: allows leaders to play to their strengths. They have a presence and send of self-assurance that lets them stand out from the crowd.

Measuring self-awareness and other dimensions of Emotional Intelligence(EI) is critical in today's workplace. Our Whole Person Approach includes personality, abilities, motives and values and behavioral assessments - the blueprint for identifying and improving EI.

Candid Clues™ is the perfect hiring tool for hourly and entry-level positions when positive work attitude, integrity, frustration tolerance or dependability are mission critical. Behavioral interview questions included with every report.

E-Net Hire enables any hiring authority, from any location, to administer an overt integrity assessment that has been custom-tailored for that particular position, and to receive the results instantly. Through the use of these assessments in position profiling, the likelihood of matching candidates to the position and creating an effective development strategy is enhanced.

SELECT® Associate System is a pre-employment screening tool to identify work-related behaviors such as Positive Service Attitude, Accountability, Frustration Tolerance, Acceptance of Diversity, Multi-tasking and more, plus a Validity Check and Integrity Index.

Imagine you hired a manager who consistently exceeded his goals but also treated his peers and reports with contempt. He rarely did anything for your company unless it directly benefited him. Do you consider this person a good hire or a bad hire? When faced with the choice between hiring a competent jerk or a lovable fool, who would you choose? You might be surprised how most people answer.

Read more Human Resource Articles about hiring, high school dropouts, performance management and more.

"A team with emotionally intelligent members does not necessarily make for an emotionally intelligent group."

Vaness Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff, "Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups," Harvard Business Review, March 2001.

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2007 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.