Kyle and my topic of difficult conversations could go many ways. Difficult conversations could be around bad company/personal news, being laid off, employee reviews, or direct criticism. All of those conversations could be taught from either the employee or manager perspective. I am not yet sure how we plan to teach but we both agreed to find 2 good articles/resources over spring break to get the juices flowing so we can hit the ground running with ideas next week.
I found this article from the Harvard Business Review. Deborah Bright has written books and runs an executive training program on effective criticism in the workplace. This article explains 4 ways managers can promote effective criticism and ensure that employees take note and make changes.
Those 4 steps are:
1. Engage the person in a specific solution
2. Link the criticism to what's most important to the employee
3. Keep your voice and body language neutral
4. Heed individual preferences
She takes most of her wisdom and examples from her time as a competitive diver. She contributes her success to her coach. I think some of her examples are a bit intense and aggressive, such as linking being late to work with someone who values their reputation among peers by saying "How do you think coming in late affects your reputation with your colleagues?" but maybe the directness is what will work with some employees.
If you have an interest in reading the article: The HBR Article
This is a very good article, but this one segment stood out to me: "Early on, before your employees have a chance to do anything that requires criticism, ask them how they prefer to receive feedback. Should you give it immediately or postpone it to another time? Do they prefer an email or an in-person talk? If it’s the latter, should it be in your workspace, theirs, or a neutral spot?"
ReplyDeleteThat's a great tactic that I honestly never used. Definitely putting that in my pocket.