Rule 5. Say Thank You – ’tis the season!
December 17th, 2009People thrive on recognition and feedback, and this doesn’t change once they step through the office door. This is the age of Facebook and Twitter; of immediate, continuous feedback. We get it from all angles in our everyday life, so why wouldn’t we expect it at work?
Too often, feedback is delayed (annual performance review, anyone?) or negative (even though this does have its place). How often do you give praise or celebrate success? And do you give positive feedback across the board: to your top paid executives as well as the little guys working away in the background?
It doesn’t have to get complicated: employee recognition isn’t just about elaborate rewards or bonuses. While it may seem blindingly obvious, research has shown that just thanking employees results in increased engagement – and an engaged employee is a more productive employee.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Good point. We could all use more recognition! I myself have never met anyone who has said, “stop, I’m getting too much positive feedback”. Of course you’d expect just the opposite which is, “that would be a nice problem to have, the fact is, I hardly get any feedback at all and when I do get information it is about my shortcomings”. We can keep encouraging people, particularly our managers, to give thanks, recognize good efforts and provide developmental feedback. Maybe we can hope that people will do more of this in 2010; although like the book title says, “Hope is Not a Strategy”.
A proactive strategy, driven by the employee, is to seek out feedback from their trusted advisors in between any formal performance reviews and informal conversations with their boss. Here’s how:
General positive feedback: If someone gives me a general compliment such as, “great presentation” or “I liked that report” then I’m going to come back and say, “thanks, what did you like about it”. That way I can get specific details on what went well and what I should repeat in the future.
Seeking out what I do well and opportunity areas for development:
I can also say to some of my trusted advisors, which may or may not include my boss, “I’m trying to do my own mini 360 review and would really like your input…
1. “What one thing would you say I do well that I should continue doing?”.
2. “Tell me one thing that would help me be more effective”.
The approach of me asking for feedback of who I want, how often and on what areas of my performance feels so much more empowering as opposed to waiting for my boss to “do something to me”, such as thank me, compliment me, give me good quality feedback or put helpful content into my performance review. The passive vs. proactive approach to learning how to leverage my strengths and develop areas that could use more focus could mean the difference between excelling in my career or feeling stalled.