Why Giving Positive Feedback Is Bettering Than Giving Praise

There is an important difference between giving your employees positive feedback and giving them praise.

• Positive feedback focuses on the specifics of job performance.
• Praise, often one-or two-sentence statements, such as “Keep up the good work,” without positive feedback leaves employees with empty feelings.

Worse yet, without positive feedback, employees feel no sense that they are appreciated as individual talents with specific desires to learn and grow on the job and in their careers, reports Nicholas Nigro, author of, The Everything Coaching and Mentoring Book.

So, skip the praise and give positive feedback that is more uplifting to your employees because it goes to the heart of their job performance and what they actually do.

An example of positive feedback is:

“Bob, your communications skills have dramatically improved over the past couple of months. The report that you just prepared for me was thorough and concise. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into it, as do your team members.”

Use A Board Of Advisers Instead Of Mentors

Here is one of my Blog's most popular posts from last year...now with updated information.

David Burkus often provides valuable comments to my various Blog postings, and he's a person who effectively uses a board of advisers, instead of mentors, to help him achieve success.

"I've found that in my life, it was easier and more effective to set up a board of advisers," said Burkus, the editor of LeaderLab. "This is a group of people, three to five, that have rotated into my life at various times and that speak into it and help me grow. I benefit from the variety of experience these people have."

LeaderLab is an online community of resources dedicated to promoting the practice of leadership theory. Its contributors include consultants and professors who present leadership theory in a practitioner-friendly format that provides easy-to-follow explanations on how to apply the best of leadership theory.

Community users can download a variety of research reports and presentations about leadership and leadership versus management.

For example, a presentation on LeaderLab explains:

•  Management is made up of activities needed to run a business, unit or organization to help achieve its goals.
•  Leadership is what it takes to inspire and engage employees to contribute their best to achieve the goals, support the vision, carry out the mission, and embody the company's values.

Two of Burkus' favorite leadership books are:
•  The Starfish and the Spider -- A book actually about leaderLESS organizations. "This book examines organizations that didn't need leaders to thrive," said Burkus.
•  The Leadership Challenge -- "This book examines the practices that make leaders effective and teaches aspiring leaders how to inspire and lead others," explained Burkus.

David has written his own new book. It's called, The Portable Guide To Leading Organizations.

Does T.E.A.M Say It All For How To Successfully Lead A Business?

While I was at the gym today, I saw a poster for a team weight loss class/program. Its theme was:

T.E.A.M.

T = Training
E = Education
A = Accountability
M = Motivation

That got me thinking...if you lead a business and provide on-going training for your employees, provide opportunities for education and learning, hold employees accountable and provide plenty of motivation....is that basically all you need to be a successful leader?

How To Talk About Inconsistencies With An Employee

If you’re having a difficult time clarifying inconsistencies you are hearing from an employee about a project’s/task’s progress, try asking these questions (or making these statements) the next time you meet with the employee:

•  Here’s what I see. Here’s what I hear you saying.
•  Here’s what we know so far.
•  So let’s see if I’m on track with you…
•  Let’s see where we are…
•  How about we step back from a moment and look at a few different ideas…
•  Did I hear you correctly when you said…?
•  Am I missing something here?

Always be sure you’re on the same page and have the same understanding of the progress being made with your employee’s projects.

Thanks to Jane Murphy for these tips from her book, What Could Happen If You Do Nothing.

Use Job Descriptions

It's tempting to not write job descriptions, especially if you own a small business or lead a small team of employees.  But, don't fall into that trap.

Whether you have one or many employees, be sure each has a current and accurate job description.

A job description is a written document that should include the:

• employee's duties
• responsibilities
• outcomes needed from that position
• required qualifications
• reporting relationship

And, if you have job descriptions but they are poorly written or out-of-date, that will lead to confusion and misunderstandings.

Once you have a job description for each employee, you'll be able to ensure the descriptions all fit together logically and leave no holes in the duties that need to be assigned throughout your team or business.

• Check your job descriptions at least yearly to be sure they reflect the employee's proper title and current duties. Very often employees get new job titles or are assigned new tasks mid-year, and those don't get reflected in their job descriptions. Don't let that happen.

Finally, if you don't have access to a Human Resources department that can help you craft your job descriptions you can find lots of good examples online.

How To Prepare For The Next Recession

Even though the business environment is improving for some companies, don't close the book on the recent recession until you've set a game plan for how you will lead your business between now and the next recession. And, for how you will lead during the next recession.

Write down the lessons you learned over the past couple years and determine how you'll apply each going forward.

You can also take note of the suggestions from savvy business leaders that offer this advice:

•  You have to build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes or no one will follow you when it does.
•  There is no substitute for preparation. Access your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times.
•  Conduct an annual risk review that encompasses both financial and non-financial risks.
•  When removing employees from your business, be courageous, quick and fair.
•  Pay attention to those who leave and those who stay. And, for those who stay, remove work so the employees left behind don't feel punished for staying.
•  Talk more about values more than rules.
•  Reward not only the performance, but also how that performance is achieved.