The Holiday Gift Your Employees Will Value

Each holiday season I am struck by the way lights, trees, and colorful decor can enhance a lonely street or a simple room. The investment and time my remarkable wife takes to transform our home brightens the season and makes a difference. Likewise, a leader's job is to enhance the performance of colleagues. It takes time and is an investment that is appreciated and does not go unnoticed. Many assume that this means performing some of the classic functions of performance management, such as:

• Setting clear expectations for what subordinates are to accomplish,
• Providing ample feedback on how well they are meeting those expectations,
• Conducting periodic performance appraisals, and
• Ensuring the individual receives ample development via formal training and on-the-job.

The problem is that merely doing those things doesn’t seem to improve the performance of most subordinates. For those who show signs of improvement, the magnitude of that improvement seems far below the potential the individual actually possesses. Often those traditional performance management steps cause short term bursts of effort and productivity (like most of us display as we are getting ready for a long business trip) that is not sustained over a longer time period.

I fear that many managers lose sight of the equally important other half of performance management equation. This is the half that focuses on the “pull” side of motivation. It is the half that moves beyond behavior that merely meets the expectations of someone in authority to the place of taking initiative and putting forth extra effort.

Recognizing effort vs. recognizing only positive end results

It is hard for some leaders to recognize the effort of employees. (Yes, I said “effort”— not just the end result.) Why? Well, let's face reality. Outcomes for any project are often controlled by outside forces. Sometimes it is the economy. It could be the actions of a competitor or new technology. It could be that the customer changed their minds about using your product. Those are only some of the dangers of only reinforcing final outcomes.

The highly respected Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has long argued that smart leaders (along with teachers and parents) are far better advised to reward a person’s willingness to work hard and to tenaciously overcome obstacles than to wait for the final outcome to give feedback. Why? Because effort is what the subordinate can entirely control. Consistent and reliable performance is worth reinforcing, and it creates a climate in which exceptional performance will ultimately emerge.

Leaders prefer not to give reinforcing feedback

Our research shows that when asked whether they prefer to give reinforcing feedback to subordinates or not to give such feedback, a rather shocking picture emerges. The average male leader prefers not to, and the average female manager is only slightly further along on the positive end side of that scale.

We contend that effective performance management demands equal parts of reinforcing feedback, along with any corrective or redirecting feedback the manager feels is also appropriate to give. The act of providing reinforcing feedback builds a strong relationship with a subordinate, which in turn makes it much easier to give redirecting feedback and to have a more comfortable performance appraisal discussion as well.

Is it any wonder that most employees approach performance appraisal discussions with apprehension and dread? Why would they not, if communication from their boss is invariably critical of what they are or are not doing? And employees recognize that final outcomes are not always within their control.

This year, consider giving your employees a remarkable gift: the holidays may be the ideal time to give healthy doses of appreciation for your teams’ hard work and effort, knowing that in the long run those efforts will also pay off in excellent business results.