Entrepreneur magazine published a short piece titled “Five Steps for Giving Productive Feedback” that’s definitely worth a read – especially if you run your own auto upholstery business or manage one’s shop-floor activities.
Scott Halford, the article’s author – as well as the author of the bestselling book, Be a Shortcut: The Secret Fast Track to Business Success – writes:
Giving feedback to your colleagues and employees provides them with an observer’s insight into how their performance is progressing, as well as advice to solve any problems. But, for a number of people, hearing the six words, “Can I give you some feedback?” generates fear and anxiety. The words go through a translator in our brain and are heard as, “Can I completely tear you down?” It can be perceived that the person giving the feedback is somehow superior to the person receiving it, putting the receiver on the defense.
While giving and receiving feedback can be a delicate process, there’s no doubting its value in helping to identify issues and solve them. Businessowners should manage feedback in a positive way so that it can do what it’s intended to do: Help improve and grow your business. [read more]
Among Halford’s tips, he advises supervisors to be immediate in their feedback. In other words, don’t wait until later to provide employees with feedback – do it right away. “The adult brain learns best by being caught in action,” he writes. “If you wait three months to tell someone that his or her performance is average, he or she usually can’t grasp the changes needed in order to change direction.”
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