Home

Services/Products

Articles

Partners

 

 

Programs:

The Alternative Board

SWIM Starting with Me

 

Receive our Free email newsletter
Email:

 

playerListen to the article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Guys (Gals) Finish Last

Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2007  

 

"Nice guys finish last." Agree or disagree? It really depends on how it’s being applied, but if by “nice” you mean uncomfortable with confrontation, then the statement is more true than false. People who avoid confrontation can expect to fail – and in the case of supervision, set up their employees for failure.

 

By far, the most frequent mistake CEOs make in supervision is failure to confront employee actions – good or bad – in a timely fashion. Some do so because they don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, some because they’re afraid it might precipitate someone’s resignation, some because they’re just not good at it, and some because they don’t know how.

 

Let’s be perfectly clear, here. None of those reasons makes it okay to avoid or repress conflict. When dealing with employee development, a manager has an obligation, both legal and moral, to learn and practice the art of direct, timely, and constructive feedback.

 

Here are some tips to help you improve your supervisory skills.

 

  1. Know the goal. It is very important for you to know and understand the job descriptions of your employees. Effective, written job descriptions are the backbone for creating an environment in which employees can grow and employers can empower.

 

  1. Be alert. The acronym MBWA stands for Management by Walking Around. The idea is that you must be watching what is going on and how people are functioning. The more mature an employee is, the more you can focus on the output. The less mature, the more you must focus on the process. Don’t leave your employees to operate in a vacuum. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not good for the business.

 

  1. Act immediately. Ken Blanchard’s One Minute Manager describes this well. As soon as you see an employee behavior that needs correction and/or discipline, act immediately. You are doing no one a favor by waiting until tomorrow. The sooner an employee is confronted with a behavior that needs correcting, the easier it is for that person to deal with it. This is not only the most practical thing to do, it is the morally right thing to do. It is not fair to an employee to allow a behavior to continue; to build into a bad habit; to create ill-will with fellow workers or customers, etc.

 

  1. Reward more often than reprimand. No one likes to be corrected, but if people sense that they are valued for their work and skills, they will understand correction as a normal part of development. That means that you have to “catch people doing things right” more often than the opposite. Praise for a job well-done is a powerful motivator for all of us to want to improve and be the best we can be.

 

  1. Give feedback effectively. While it takes practice to do well, it really is quite simple. Effective feedback is direct, timely, specific, and constructive. Doesn’t matter if you are rewarding or reprimanding, the formula works. Look at the following examples:

 

“John, I noticed how you not only answered that customer’s question, but walked her to the shelves and helped her pick the right product. ”(Direct and specific, and as soon after the behavior as possible) “That kind of service is what keeps customers coming back. Keep up the good work.” (Constructive because it identifies the result of the behavior and the expected action to continue).

 

“Mary, you missed several typos in this letter you prepared.” (Direct and specific, and as soon after the behavior as possible) “Not only does it cause more work for someone else, but had the typos been missed, it would reflect poorly on you and the company. In the future, proofread more carefully and assure that there are no mistakes.” (Constructive because it identifies the result of the behavior and the expected action in the future).

 

Both of these examples take less than 30 seconds to deliver. They are respectful of the person because they focus only on the person’s work behavior, not their character. The person is now in full control of how the feedback is used. If taken to heart, the employee grows and becomes stronger in the job.

 

Action items for you:

 

  1. Review your job descriptions
  2. Write a few practice feedback sentences
  3. Catch someone doing something right or wrong
  4. Deliver feedback effectively

 

Now, do you feel nice? Looked at this way, you can be nice and finish well. So, you see, the saying isn’t true after all.