Letting your workers know how well (or not so well) they’re doing their jobs isn’t just part of your job. Informing them of what they’re doing right and where they need improvement gives them guidance. This guidance prevents them from just plodding through their days and tells them what to focus on.

Using specific examples of good and not-so-good work gives your workers concrete situations to refer to so they know exactly what to improve on. When you have a not-so-good review to dish out, you must give an employee specific examples of why he isn’t meeting your expectations.

For example: Rather than tell him “Your job performance has been low and you need to shape up or hit the road,” tell him “I noticed you’ve been late three times this week and haven’t made any of your production goals What can I do to help?” Giving negative feedback to a worker is never easy, but you can follow these tips to ease the burden:

• Always cite the specific task he needs improvement on. Keeping track of your workers on a regular basis instead of trying to come up with review points at the last minute will help to make this process smoother.
• Always offer to help him fix the problem in any way that you can. If your worker needs more training, schedule some time to work with him.
• Never displace your anger on him. Even if you’re frustrated with his performance, getting angry with him will only make him defensive.
• Never give an employee negative feedback in front of other employees. Instead, find a quiet place and a good time to talk.

Filed under: Management Minute