What? No Feedback?

Apart from the dozens of strange management practices I noticed back in the Philippines, one that keeps coming up is the lack of proper feedback.

A lof of managers, here in the country, do not provide feedback or they do not do it properly. When asked about how their teams are performing they a quick to blame their staff for poor performance.

Having the opportunity to observe different managers from different nationalities while working abroad, they take feedback very seriously. It works both ways, they seek feedback and they are very good at providing timely feedback.

The key to great performance is great feedback. We will not be certain how we are performing if not for feedback. Our staff will not have a clue how they are performing if feedback was not provided on a timely manner.

Here in the Philippines, I have observed many managers hold back on providing feedback. They complain to peers and superiors but do not bother providing feedback to the person involved. The opposite are managers that provide feedback in the form of shouting and degrading their staff. Even worse, sometimes these negative approach is done in public.

It is no wonder why our employee performance is below par of other countries. Poor employee performance is seen so clearly in the quality of customer service our companies provide. Our managers are not properly trained on how to provide good and timely feedback.

I keep emphasizing timely. Imagine that you conducted a very important sales presentation to key executives of your top customer. Your manager was in the room with you. After the presentation, everyone shakes each other’s hands and leaves the meeting room. You wait for your manager to provide his feedback but he was busy packing his things to rush off to the next meeting. A week later, you still did not get any feedback. Two months later, after the customer has decided, your manager gives you his feedback. At this point, what's the point? Proper feedback must be timely.

The second key to an effective feedback is a proper method. There is a simple method called the sandwich approach. It's quite simple. First, find something good to compliment your subordinate. Then, deliver the constructive feedback. Third, end with a positive message. Study shows that the emotions of people are influenced most by the tail end of an event. If our feedback ends on a positive note, that's the emotion that the recipient will bring with him or her. Of course, along with the constructive feedback.

Remember Timely & Effective Sandwich Feedback equals better performance.

Use this formula and improve your team’s performance.