When Deliverables Miss the Mark
With a deadline looming, you make a request, “hey, (insert name), I need a report on new ice cream flavors (or whatever you do, but we hope it’s that) by Friday at 1pm. Thanks.” Your well-intentioned employee writes the report….aaaaaaaand it completely misses the mark. What happened??? You thought you were clear and they were capable. Not only do you have to deliver the news that the work was subpar and unacceptable, but the report your team owed your boss will now be late. Ugh. Feedback is tricky. You don’t want to look like a jerk, you don’t want your employee to shut down and silently resent the world. It will feel like a no-win situation…until you find the right WORDS.
Saying nothing will solve exactly…nothing. You still have a useless report in your hands, and chances are, it’ll happen again because your employee has no reason to think anything was wrong with their performance. Saying nothing will come back to haunt you.
“This report sucks!” “What were you thinking?”
“I thought you could do it, but I’ll ask Joann to clean this up.”
All of the above are tempting, and probably what you’re thinking…but saying those things out loud isn’t constructive, and they’ll put you on the path to alienating your employee. That, like saying nothing, will only lead to disengagement.
“Let’s take it from the top. Tell me about the approach you took.”
“Were my instructions about the assignment clear?”
“I took a look, and some adjustments need to be made. Please prioritize this report and make the following 4 changes by Friday 2pm.”
Final Word: Be specific and direct.
It’s easy to place blame on the other person’s talents (or lack thereof), but do a self-check before handing them your copy of Excel for Dummies. Were the directions specific enough? Was the task communicated clearly? Did they have the tools or training they needed? Use questions to get at their understanding like “How will you tackle this?”. Likewise, invite them to ask you questions (preferably sooner rather than later). Use objective facts (data) to help you (and them) avoid the blame game. Create an opportunity for conversation. Be specific and objective with feedback to ensure your employee has all the information they need to go forward and improve. Explain the Why and the How. After all, the whole point of feedback is to improve performance and enhance a career (or a life) … which benefits everyone.
“Few managers are comfortable giving their employees feedback, but frank conversations are critical for employees’ growth and engagement…feedback is a manager's best tool, but it’s only effective when it’s delivered properly.”
Ashira Prossack, Communication Coach, Speaker, Trainer, Contributor to Forbes
“Appropriate feedback contributes significantly to developing learners’ competence and confidence at all stages of their professional careers; it helps them think about the gap between actual and desired performance and identify ways to narrow the gap and improve.”
Dr. Georgia Hardavella, Pulmonologist, Member of European Board of Accreditation in Pneumology’s (EBAP) Board
“Feedback if not done well can have a detrimental impact on performance. If you’re going to do it, do it well.”
Stephane Brutus, Ph.D., Dean of Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa
Don’t stop now! Learn more from a few of our personal favs below:
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