Global warming, political change and global economic implosion are taking their toll. There are few organisations that are not anticipating reduced demand for products, tighter budgets and focus on head count. As personal anxieties and social pressures increase, stress levels rise.
What can you do to ensure your survival?
You can be in the top 20% of performers in your area. The top performers will survive. You have to make sure that you are one of them!
There are many things you can do to reach this goal, from developing your skills set, working smarter and improving your visibility with those who count. In the end it all comes down to performing at your absolute best, and making sure that you are getting the best from your team.
The key to being at your best is to perfect the way you give and receive feedback. It has been called the breakfast of champions. It has got to become your daily bread and butter. Using it effectively is the way you can be sure that you and your people are performing at your peak.
You can use feedback in three ways.
Feedback to keep on track
Give your people feedback to keep them on track, making sure that priorities receive proper attention and that energy is not wasted. You must also make sure you receive it from those senior to you. You need absolute clarity on strategies, priorities and the value you and your team are expected to add to the organisation so you know where to focus.
Feedback to motivate
In difficult times, it is important to keep going, maintain energy, and be resilient. One of the best ways of helping people do this is to provide them with constructive feedback on their performance. The perennial question, How am I doing, is seldom answered as regularly and as specifically as people need it to be.
Giving your people ongoing, constructive feedback on their performance is one of the most effective things you can do to keep them motivated and performing at their best. As a manager, you need it too. So speak up. Ask the same question, How am I doing?
Feedback to fix mistakes
When you give people feedback as soon as you see them falling behind or making mistakes it tells them you are serious about standards. It also helps them fix their performance immediately and avoids the dreaded performance appraisal interview where someone finds out six months too late that he has not been performing.
Top performing people know that it is more important to fix mistakes immediately than to hide them and blame the consequences on others.
Use feedback to get into the top 20%. Use it to keep on track, stay motivated and fix mistakes. Is that not exactly what performance management is all about? If you are not giving your people feedback you are not living up to your leadership responsibilities and they are not performing at their best. Nor are you!
Maureen Collins trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people in her consulting practice, Straight Talk. She has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She consults in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za