Customer Service Management Training 101 Chapter 9 Excerpt: Motivating Through Meaningful Feedback

The purpose of monitoring and observing is to improve substandard performance and reinforce good performance. This is accomplished by motivating through meaningful feedback.

Some managers motivate by handing out awards for a job well done. Others motivate by giving monetary incentives. Yet others motivate by rewarding employees with time off or other non-cash prizes. Handing out awards, incentives, and rewards may motivate employees, but these types of motivation are usually short lived and employees become conditioned to expect something for doing their jobs.

Effective managers know that the best and longest lasting form of motivation occurs when employees are made to feel good about the jobs they do and believe that their performance contributes to the overall success of their company. These managers understand that the power of their words can uplift and motivate, just as easily as they can demoralize and deflate.

When you observe your employees, you will provide two kinds of feedback: constructive and positive. Both types, when delivered in a meaningful manner, will encourage employees to perform well. When giving constructive feedback, selecting words that maintain an employee’s self-esteem and giving an assurance that you value him or her can be a great motivator. When giving positive feedback, something as simple as saying a heartfelt thank you can be a great motivator for a job well done.

Giving feedback that is meaningful and effective takes practice. The more you become accustomed to giving feedback the easier it will be for you to say the words that make your employees feel valued and know that they are important to the overall success of your team. Effective feedback is always focused, specific, timely, non-threatening, and maintains the employee’s self-esteem.

Feedback need not be long and drawn out. Quick feedback can reap positive results. Telling an employee about his or her performance right after you observe a behavior or action is most effective. Saying specifically what you liked about the performance, or what you did not like, and giving an honest accounting of the behavior enhances the employee’s understanding of the feedback.

A good time to review employee progress is during feedback sessions. When you observe a behavior that needs to be corrected, discuss it with the employee. If you agree that action needs to be taken, you may decide to jointly create a development action plan. Noting who is responsible for taking action, what action needs to be taken, when and where it will be completed, and how it will be completed takes any guesswork out of responsibilities.

The most important feedback comes during the performance appraisal. Typically, formal appraisals are written, discussed with employees, and documented annually. When you determine what items an employee will be appraised on, you can create an appraisal form that will keep you focused throughout the year. When meeting periodically to discuss goal achievement, the appraisal form will also be a helpful tool for both the employee and you.

Your management role includes many opportunities to give feedback to others, but what happens when you are the on the receiving end? Learning to accept feedback graciously will help you come across confident and in control at all times. Listening carefully and asking clarifying questions will help you process the feedback.

Taking the time to analyze the feedback prior to acting on it will allow you to be in position to make the decision whether or not to accept it.

Master the steps below and you will give powerful and meaningful feedback that will enable your employees feel motivated to perform their best at all times.

STEP 1: Meaningful Feedback is Focused, Specific, and Timely

Telling your employees how you feel they are performing means sharing your observations and evaluating their performance. That can be difficult if you are not accustomed to giving feedback. Learning the components of meaningful feedback will help you compliment good behaviors and provide concrete suggestions for improving areas of weakness.

Focusing on one area at a time keeps your message from being diluted. When you try to cover too many issues at once, your message may not be received completely or as you intended. By picking the most critical items on which to focus your feedback you can avoid this from happening. Focusing on the behavior rather than on the person or personality keeps your message objective. State what you observed by beginning your feedback with I noticed or I observed, rather than with You did. You statements may put the other person on the defensive, while I statements pave the way for honest dialogue.

When you give feedback, give specific details. Saying, you did a great job, or that was terrible, is too vague to be constructive. What was good? What was terrible? After giving the details, state what impact the observation may have had on the customer. "I observed your last call, and when the customer asked about our return policy you first said thirty days and then said anytime with a receipt. If I was the customer, I’d be confused about that. The correct answer is that an item can be returned anytime but the customer must have the receipt." Likewise, when giving positive feedback, remember to tell the employee exactly what was good. "I thought you did a terrific job explaining our return policy to that customer. Based on her response, she clearly understood what you were saying." By giving specific details, the employee knows exactly what you did or did not like about the contact and the behaviors are more likely to be changed or reinforced.

Only give feedback on behaviors and performance that you personally observe. When someone tells you about a negative situation involving your employee, make sure the feedback is warranted before talking to your employee. Giving feedback based on hearsay is never advisable unless you have previously observed the same behavior or you know that the person is completely reliable. Something may have been taken out of context or the person may only have heard part of a conversation, so it is usually best to observe the employee in action before giving feedback.

When you observe a behavior that needs to be corrected or praised, give feedback right away so that you can recall all the details. When you observe a behavior that is unacceptable, such as an employee mistreating a customer, do not wait until later; rather, immediately discuss the situation with the employee. If you observe your employee being rude to a customer but wait until the next day to discuss it, how many more customers will the employee be rude to? By waiting, you may lose your impact to motivate the employee to change the behavior, and in the worst case scenario, you may lose customers.

In addition to being focused, specific, and timely, meaningful feedback should protect a person’s self-esteem. When you give feedback, refrain from being judgmental and do not say things like you always or you never. Rarely is anything always or never and those words often make people defensive. Also, do not stereotype the person or apply labels that may be offensive, such as saying: "You must be an idiot if you think speaking to a customer like that is acceptable." Allow the employee to respond and end corrective feedback on a positive note. Say something such as: "I’m sure now that you’re aware of it, it won’t happen again."

STEP 2: Quick Feedback Gets Positive Results

Whenever you observe your employees, focus on finding them “doing it right.” When you look for the positives you will find many opportunities to give quick praise. Your employees will appreciate that you noticed and will want to repeat their positive behaviors.

It is never appropriate to give corrective feedback in front of others. If possible, choose a quiet location. If not possible, talking to an employee at his or her work station is fine as long as you speak quietly and others cannot hear. If customers are present, take the employee into a private location.

When praising an employee, it can be a great motivator for an employee to receive positive feedback within earshot of others, but first be sure that your employees are comfortable hearing praise in front of others.

When you give feedback, say it in as few words as possible. Giving quick feedback gets results, so usually there is no need to belabor or repeat your point. If you find that what you observed was a serious problem and you need to give lengthy feedback, or if it is time to create a development action plan, or if training is warranted, tell the employee what you observed and then schedule the time for follow up action.

If you are angry or upset about a situation, such as an employee mistreating a customer, or in situations that occur where you have already given corrective feedback and an employee’s behavior has not changed, do your best to keep your emotions out of your voice and facial expressions. Take time to calm down. Think about how you want to talk to the employee. Speak respectfully, focus on the observed behavior, and remain composed when giving the feedback.

Your goal as a manager is to help your employees be their best. Sincerity, or its absence, comes through whenever you give feedback, so speak and present yourself in an earnest manner. For those who need to improve a behavior, speaking to them frankly will show that you care about their performance and that you are there to help them improve. For those who consistently do things right, thanking them in a heartfelt manner and finding ways to show your appreciation will increase their desire to continue to perform their best.

STEP 3: Development Action Plans Improve Performance

Giving feedback opens dialogues that clear the path to improving performance. But how do you ensure the situation is going to improve? If you give corrective feedback on a minor issue and further observations show that the employee took responsibility for improving performance, nothing more needs to be done. For those occasions where the employee continues to perform poorly, a development action plan can be helpful.

When quick corrective feedback has not worked and the employee continues the same behaviors, you need to know if the employee needs training or a change in attitude. Work through the steps until you uncover the reason for the problem and the employee takes responsibility for the behavior. Unless the employee sees the need for a development action plan, writing one will be meaningless, as well as a time waster on your part since you will be the one who monitors the plan. Only when the employee agrees that the behavior needs to be changed can you work together to set concrete and specific goals for improvement.

All goals included in the action plan must be jointly agreed on; otherwise they will be your goals rather than your employee’s. Before beginning the process, explain what you will be doing and why it is important. When you create the action plan, include the details for each area of improvement:

? Who is responsible for the action

? What action will be taken

? When the action will be improved or completed

? Where the action will be performed

? How the action will be completed

Monitor goal achievement frequently and praise employees who are improving. For those employees who have written a development action plan, review it with them and ask them to tell you how they feel they are doing. Ask in what areas they feel they need help. When your employees see that their development is important to you, it will be important to them as well. Whenever goals are reached, acknowledge and praise their accomplishments.

STEP 4: Appraising Performance is the Most Effective Feedback

Employees want to know how they are performing and how they are contributing to the overall success of the team and company, so if you have not been giving periodic performance appraisals now is the time to start. Appraisals tell employees how well they have performed during a designated time period.

If your company does not have a pre-set appraisal form, create one of your own. A “fill-in-the-blank” type form works well. Include both concrete measurements, such as sales figures derived from reports, as well as subjective measurements from your observations that you will include in your employees’ appraisals. Keep up with your documentation for goal achievement during the appraisal period. This will make writing the actual appraisal easy because most of the results will already be filled in.

Determine a number system that you can apply to each result, such as using numbers one to four to label performance. For example, one means that the employee has not met objectives, two means satisfactory performance, three means more than satisfactory performance, and four equates to outstanding performance. Use the numbers for each goal item to average an overall appraisal score.

Formal appraisals should be done every year at the very least. Typically, the appraisal period is a calendar year, beginning in January. Once the appraisal period has been designated, schedule a meeting with your employees to communicate both company and team goals. Give them a copy of the appraisal form and discuss each item that they will be appraised on.

Results and goal achievement should be discussed frequently over the course of the year. You want to set your employees up to succeed, and the best way to do that is to talk to them about how they are progressing toward meeting their goals. Encourage your employees to take responsibility for achieving their goals by having them review themselves quarterly throughout the appraisal period.

STEP 5: Accept Feedback Graciously

Giving feedback to your employees is one thing, but what happens when you receive feedback from others? Do you accept it graciously or do you become defensive when someone gives you negative feedback about your performance? Learn not to take negative feedback as a personal attack. By learning to accept feedback as constructive, you strengthen your skills in giving feedback.

In order to grow and develop, it is important that you know how others perceive your actions and behaviors. When someone starts giving you negative feedback, your reaction may be to interrupt, explain, or disagree. Don’t. No matter the manner in which the message is conveyed to you, listen attentively. Consider that the person speaking to you may not understand the components of giving feedback that is meaningful and helpful, and consequently what is being said may even sound like a personal attack on your character. Nevertheless, allow the person to finish, and listen without interrupting.

No matter how the feedback was delivered, no matter how you may be feeling, thank the person. Before proceeding, make sure you understand the feedback you are receiving. If you are unclear about what was said, ask questions to clarify, and then recap what you heard. Keep your emotions objective and do not defend or rationalize your behavior or action. Say that you understand what the other person is saying and apologize if you feel that will help.

After thanking the person and clarifying what you heard, take time to analyze the feedback before responding. It is usually better to wait to respond. This gives you time to analyze the feedback, as well as to consider the person’s motivation for talking to you about it.

If you found that the feedback was justified, meet with the person to acknowledge that you agree and then say what you will do differently going forward. On the other hand, perhaps the person who gave you the feedback is a high maintenance employee who looks for reasons to complain. If you found that the feedback was not justified, meet with the person, acknowledge the feedback, and say something that allows the person to save face: "I just wanted to get back to you about our conversation yesterday. I wasn’t aware that you felt that way and again, I apologize for any misunderstanding."

Keep in mind that a person’s perception is his or her truth, so whenever you are the recipient of feedback, be open to what you are hearing. View any feedback as useful information for your development and growth and use the feedback to create or amend your personal development plan.

excerpt from Customer Service Management Training 101, available on amazon.com