Manager's Hot Seat: Delivering and Receiving Negative Feedback

When evaluating poor performers, you should be clear about the need for improvement. Keep the following in mind:

Adopt a team$-$centered orientation. Even when you are evaluating a poor performer, maintain a mentality that you are working together as a team. Maintain a constructive, forward$-$looking tone.

Avoid sugarcoating the bad news. Make sure the poor performer realizes he or she must improve.

Explain the impacts of the individual's poor performance on organizational performance. One major goal of performance appraisals is to help poor performers understand how they are negatively impacting organizational performance.

Link to consequences. Another major goal of performance appraisals is to help employees understand how poor performance impacts their employment opportunities at the organization as well as their ability to meet their career goals.

Probe for reasons performance is not higher. Ask employees to discuss their perspectives on their poor performance. Often, you will identify root causes of poor performance that will help the employee improve rapidly. You may even uncover issues that impact the organization more broadly.

Emphasize problem solving rather than blaming. As much as possible, adopt a positive, forward$-$looking tone. You are seeking solutions that help the poor performer improve. This is good for the poor performer's career, work relationships, and morale.

Be firm. Many managers want to shrink from delivering negative feedback, especially when poor performers are defensive. Remain firm that the employee must improve.

Your overall approach to these conversations and your choice of words are important in determining how useful the reviews are. Thus, use statements that offer clear and targeted feedback, focus on actions and results rather than attitudes and intentions, and establish measurable and realistic expectations.

To accept negative feedback and respond to it well requires high emotional intelligence, since you may feel many emotions, including fear, anxiety, and perhaps even anger. To avoid counterproductive responses to negative emotions, learn to recognize and name these emotions. Then develop a reframing statement to respond more effectively.

All managers must deliver negative feedback to employees from time to time. In this exercise, you will evaluate how well a manager delivers negative feedback.

You will watch a nine$-$minute video portraying the following individuals:

Brian $($director of marketing, Davey's manager; wearing a blue shirt$)$

Davey $($product group manager; wearing a green shirt with tie$)$

Brian, the manager in this situation, has received multiple complaints about Davey over the past two months. These complaints include cyberloafing $($spending too much time on non$-$work$-$related websites$),$ delegating to his subordinates work he should be doing, and disrupting the time of other employees with too much socializing.

Davey recently received an above$-$average performance evaluation but was unhappy with his pay increase. Since then, his performance has steadily fallen. In the video, you will see Davey claim that part of the reason he has stopped working as productively is the lack of challenge and his unhappiness with the low pay increase.

Click the $$Play button to watch the video. Then, answer the questions that follow.

$$McGraw$-$Hill Education

Brian opened the meeting warmly and quickly stated, "Hey, I$\text{'}$m just tryin' see to find out what's going on in the office and take the temperature how everybody's doin'. $..$ 'cause the last couple of months have been a little tough company$-$wise and business$-$wise. $..$ kinda wondering if anybody in the group is giving you any difficulties or if there's anything I can do to help you out and make things better." What best summarizes this beginning?