Digital Dealer - October 2017 - 6

LEADERSHIP

Continued from pg. 4

CHANGING HABITS AND BEHAVIORS IS
DIFFICULT, SO EXPECT TO WORK HARDER TO
REINFORCE WHAT YOU DO WANT, IN ORDER TO
HELP THEM BREAK FREE OF WHAT YOU DON'T
WANT."
self. The performer must
bring you the right attitude, humility, ability, and
desire to grow. Hopefully,
you have a well-structured
hiring process, including
an effective personality
assessment that helps
you determine this.

get the performer's
attention. However, this
isn't a license to insult,
disrespect or make your
feedback personal in a
manner that makes it
more about the person
than about the performance.

Tough-love coaching
isn't about just pointing
out what's wrong and
needs improvement, or
holding people accountable with consequences.
You should be just as honest and vocal when the
performer does well, and
use it as an opportunity to
reinforce what you expect
to see in the future.

If someone lies, call it
a lie; not simply a "bad"
decision. If someone is
late, they are not simply

2. GIVE BALANCED
FEEDBACK.

3. GIVE SPECIFIC
FEEDBACK.

The more specific you
are concerning positive or
deficient performance, the
easier it is for the performer to know which behaviors to continue and which
to change. Don't fall into
the politically correct trap
of giving general feedback
to spare someone's feelings. Tough-love coaching
is about being more concerned with someone's
future than their feelings.
4. MAKE YOUR
FEEDBACK ABOUT
PERFORMANCE, not

personal.
Be as blunt, graphic,
and critical of the performance and its consequences as is necessary
to make your point and
6

OCTOBER 2017

5. DON'T TRIVIALIZE
TRUTH.

consequence essential,
but don't apologize for
doing what's right and
necessary by applying
them.

7. AFTER
CORRECTION, redefine a

performance expectation.
By restating a performance expectation after
corrective feedback, you
refocus the performer on
what you expect in the
future, what the standard
is, and not simply the fact

TOUGH-LOVE
COACHING IS
ABOUT BEING MORE
CONCERNED WITH
SOMEONE'S FUTURE
THAN THEIR FEELINGS."
"tardy;" they're violating
your core values of integrity and teamwork. If a
team member consciously
decided to not prepare, it's
not simply an "oversight;"
it's lazy and indifferent
behavior that affects the
entire team's welfare.
6. DON'T APOLOGIZE
FOR CONSEQUENCES.

Consequences for
non-performance are
necessary to change behaviors and help the team
member become more
productive. So why would
you apologize for applying
them if they have been
earned? You can express
regret that they behaved
in a manner that made the

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

they fell short of it.

8. SHOW WHAT GOOD
PERFORMANCE LOOKS
LIKE and why it's import-

ant.
It's not enough to talk
about the performance
you expect. Show people
what great performance
looks like, explain why
it's important, and how it
impacts the team's results
over all.
9. REINFORCE
IMPROVEMENTS five

times more than you think
you should have to.
This is because when
you're trying to create a
new behavior, far more
reinforcing feedback is
required than you may

believe is reasonable
or necessary. Changing
habits and behaviors is
difficult, so expect to work
harder to reinforce what
you do want, in order to
help them break free of
what you don't want.
Yep, to reinforce your
culture, protect your
brand, enhance the
customer experience,
strengthen leadership
credibility, and help
others grow to their
fullest potential, what
your world needs now is
"love, tough love." If you
care about your people
you will confront them
when necessary, install
high expectations, deliver
honest feedback, provide
training for the journey,
and apply consequences
when needed to help improve performance. After
all, no one is ever likely
say about you, "He or she
changed my life because
they were easy on me."
DAVE ANDERSON is
President of LearnToLead,
which provides in-person and
virtual training to many of
the world's best dealerships.
Dave speaks to dealer
groups over 125 times
each year and has given
seminars in 15 countries.
He's written the leadership
column for Dealer Magazine
for the past 15 years. Dave's
13th book, "It's Not Rocket
Science: 4 Simple Strategies
for Mastering the Art of
Execution" is now available
worldwide. For leadership
tips follow Dave on Twitter @
DaveAnderson100. EMAIL:
dave@learntolead.com
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - October 2017
