How to Give Negative Feedback

Man, I get how uncomfortable giving negative feedback can be.

I mean, who wants to tell someone their performance is subpar?

Yet, as someone who has been on the other end of a critical unspoken conversation, I implore you to proceed and take this conversation on.

You see, I once had a boss who said to me,

“You’re not meeting my expectations…although I’m not sure I ever told you what they were.”

Had my boss had been clear in her communication and provided me with ongoing feedback, neither of us would probably have had to have one of those uncomfortable conversations.

I wound up leaving the company, shortly thereafter. The result being that she lost a great employee, and I ended up telling anyone who would listen, to stay away from this organization.

Here are 3 things to keep in mind when approaching a conversation related to poor work performance.

1.????Honesty is the best policy. Now’s not the time to sugarcoat things or be wishy washy. Tell it like it is.

2.????Provide specific examples of where they’re failing. For example: The report that was due to me last Friday was delivered to me the following Tuesday and was incomplete. By that I mean, there was no executive summary, nor did you include your specific recommendations, which we discussed when I assigned you this project.

3.????Clarify your expectations going forward. Is this a gentle reminder or are you putting this person on notice that if things don’t improve, they’re job is at risk. If they’re job is at risk, say so, as you’re not doing anyone any favors by holding back.

Look, people can’t improve if they don’t know they need to improve. Your job as a leader is to help your employees become the best they can be, which at times may require coaching them when their performance isn’t up to par.

If you make it a habit of giving feedback as you go, you’ll find that talking about the hard stuff will get a lot easier because you’ve already built a trusting relationship with your employee.

Want to master the art of effectively handling difficult work conversations? Download a copy of Can We Talk? The Seven Principles for Managing Difficult Conversations at Work.