Providing balanced feedback is an effective strategy to increase employee engagement and obtain the employees motivated. However it’s easier said than done if you do not fully understand what balanced feedback is, or how you can implement it.
Balanced feedback is all about positively reinforcing critical behaviours as well as providing corrective feedback when needed. Most people perform a little bit of both, but it is usually heavily weighted to corrective feedback which over time turns into a demotivator.
The secret is to turn the ratio around giving no less than four positive comments to each corrective comment or reprimand. Sounds easy, but actually it’s easy to forget!
Like other aspects of frontline leadership the bottom line is to rehearse the skills on a daily basis. The best way I have discovered to make balanced feedback a part of your everyday routine would be to think of it as ‘planned spontaneous recognition’.
Sounds somewhat oxymoron, however it constitutes a great deal of sense. The 3 aspects are essential. The first part ‘planned’ is important for that frontline manager – you need to be planned about the feedback. Which means you need to incorporate face-time on the floor together with your team several times each day. One of my clients incorporates it every time he comes back from the break or gets away from his desk to get something from the printer. It works for him!
The important face-time allows the chance to arise to provide feedback. You’re out there seeing what is going on, what employees are telling customers and how they are handling enquiries. This makes it far easier to catch your employees doing things right, so you can give positive feedback.
The second part ‘spontaneous’ is essential for the frontline leader and also the employee. You need to be flexible in what you are going to give feedback about. You cannot prepare what you’re going to give feedback about while you don’t know the situation you’ll be watching. You have to have a great knowledge of the critical behaviours that you are looking to reinforce which means you understand what to provide feedback about.
The third part of the equation is recognition. This will be significant for the employee. Because they receive balanced feedback and therefore are buoyed with positive recognition of their behaviours and actions, you develop employee engagement. Employee engagement is essential in driving employee motivation and resolve for the organisation.
Engaged workers are the aim of many organisations because there are benefits. These vary from decreasing employee turnover, lowering absenteeism, increasing discretionary effort. Employees are prepared to go that one step further to find the job done. Added together all of these bring about greater business performance.