Give Staff Specific Feedback

Do your staff know what you expect of them? If you answer, “Of course they do,” I’ve some follow-up questions for you: Do you watch your employees in action so you personally see that expectations are being fully met? When you see expectations being met well, do you praise the employee with specific feedback, such as, “Jean, thanks for reminding the customer that we can special order many items the customer doesn’t find on our shelves”?
     Specific feedback is much better than something like, “Good comeback when the customer said they couldn’t find the product, Jean.” With specific feedback, the employee recognizes what to do again or do better. With general feedback, the employee may have no idea what you’re praising or criticizing, but might not take the time or have the courage to ask what you meant. When they sense that you’re praising them, asking for details feels like fishing for a compliment. With criticism, the employee might fear making things worse by asking for more details.
     New employees are at special risk of missing what the supervisor expects. That’s not surprising. But it did surprise me when I first recognized how often supervisors and managers with excellent technical skills fail to clearly express expectations to the team members they oversee.
     Here’s why it happens: Some of those supervisors/managers were selected for promotion because they excelled on job tasks. It seemed to come naturally to them. But the downside of being a natural is that it’s too easy to forget how challenging the job can be for others.
     Use staff meetings, huddles at the start of each workday, and other opportunities to clearly say what you specifically expect of your employees. Don’t assume that one discussion of expectations is enough for forever. The human brain doesn’t work that way.