Avionics News July 2015 - 65

YOUR PEOPLE WILL ONLY FOLLOW IF
YOU'VE INVESTED IN

RAPPORT, TRUST
AND SUPPORT.

Much of this falls on your shoulders as an owner or manager, and those of your supervisors. You must be able to give
both praise and criticism, according to Robert C. Pozen, senior
lecturer of business administration at the Harvard Business
School. Certainly, the former should be easier than the latter.
Furthermore, your employee must accept the coaching,
and there's a lot to this - most importantly, your relationship
with him or her. Even your biggest rock star employee will
only apply the feedback he or she receives about 30 percent
of the time, according to researchers at Columbia University;
that goes down if he lacks confidence and skills to meet your
expectations, in which case you should coach less, teach more,
and ensure he knows he's being graded.
It also plummets when your relationship with that employee
isn't as strong as it could be because you lack authority and
credibility, according to Ekaterina Walter, a Forbes columnist
and author of Think Like Zuck. If she doesn't feel like you
know what she does and how she does it, she'll blow you off.
Your people will only follow if you've invested in rapport, trust
and support.
Just as important, you have to be immediate, both with the
good and the bad. Adults learn best while the iron is hot; wait
too long - for example, until the next annual review - and they
can't connect the changes you're suggesting with the actions
they're producing. In that case, no one wins.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
The underlying rationale for feedback is that you believe
your people are capable of doing their jobs at a level that not
only gives them satisfaction, but also boosts the performance
of your shop. In some cases, you'll want them doing more of
what they're already doing. In others, you're asking them to
do things differently - call it "better." For optimal results, you
should appreciate smart ways to offer feedback, savvy times to

give it, and a model that takes some of the guesswork out of
experience.
When it comes to what you say, consider this: Feedback
that leaves a worker feeling slighted, scorned or ridiculed
will have a negative effect. In fact, research published in the
Harvard Business Review suggests that employees who feel
they've been on the receiving end of "incivility," such as harsh
criticism from their boss, often intentionally decrease their
productivity in retaliation.
For that reason, Geoffrey James, Inc.com blogger and author
of Business Without the Bullsh*t, suggests making negative
feedback unusual. But when it has to be given, it should be
done in small doses rather than waiting for the "right moment"
when a litany of complaints will seem overwhelming.
Yet when that time comes, Walter suggests using the
IDEALS model to script what you have to say into a six-step
process.
Invite him to partner. Ask the employee to join you in a
conversation about his performance. This sets a nonconfrontational tone, especially when it's asked with relaxed, friendly
body language; of course, implicit in this is avoiding this discussion when you're angry or frustrated. In private, identify the
issue - using documented examples - and ask the employee
what he could do better. If he knows there's an issue, he may
already have a solution; give him credit for the insight, and ask
for his plan to avoid this problem or change this behavior in
the future.
Disarm yourself. If he doesn't understand the issue, stay
open-minded and explore the issue from his point of view. Use
the "two ears, one mouth" approach to listen before you speak,
and inquire about what obstacles are keeping him from better
performance and how he'd like to address them; he'll commit
Continued on following page
AVIONICS NEWS

JULY

2015

http://www.Inc.com

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