Not John Lennon’s IMAGINE
Imagine going to work every day, doing the best you know how and not knowing whether your boss agrees that what you’re doing is what s/he wants and needs.
Imagine being surprised at your annual performance review (which is usually at least a month or two late) to hear for the first time that you’ve been doing it wrong.
Imagine your leadership team’s surprise that their employees are profoundly disengaged.
This is an all too familiar scenario at work places across the globe. Lack of useful feedback negatively impacts productivity and profitability, not to mention the over-use of employee health benefits due to stress.
Most importantly, it is impacting the quality of people’s lives.
When you spend the majority of your week in uncertainty and fear, life becomes burdensome very quickly. And the sad part is, it is neither expensive nor difficult to fix. Keep reading for how.
Humans inherently want feedback. It’s why children want us to watch as they perform feats on the playground, why we look for clues in the faces of others when we talk, and why we want our immediate supervisors to let us know how we’re doing.
Unfortunately, too many managers believe that a simple, “Good work,” will suffice. Or worse, in the absence of “good work,” a torturous silence. I use the word “torturous” deliberately – it feels that way when you’re on the receiving end of silence instead of feedback. (Silence is a form of negative feedback whether you mean it that way or not.)
Whether it’s “good work” or silence, what your employees crave are details. What did you like, what could I do better, how can I improve? Even those employees you think don’t care want detailed feedback. If for no other reason, they want to know how to keep you “off their backs.” (Smile)
The LB/NT Process is a simple, yet incredibly effective way to provide feedback.
First, you use two questions to inspire your team member to evaluate their own performance: (1) What did you like best (LB) about what you did? and (2) What would you do differently next time? (NT) LB/NT
Once you’ve gotten their self-feedback, take it into consideration as you tell them the answers to the same two questions: (1) What did you like best about their performance, and (2) what, if anything, would you like them to do differently next time?
Not only does this process satisfy their strong need for feedback, it teaches them important skills like ownership of results. It is also a quick and easy way for you to develop them in areas where they need it.
