Giving Employees A Voice When Giving Them Negative Feedback Can Bring Benefits

Managers say that giving negative feedback to their employees is one of their least favorite activities. As a result, they tend to avoid or delay doing it. Today’s best managers know the best way to give negative feedback to employees. The most effective way is to: 1) give employees the opportunity to rate their own performance, 2) give employees some positive feedback along with the negative feedback, and 3) allow employees to respond to your negative feedback of them. Using all three of these feedback methods may be difficult to do, but can be more effective and less risky than not using them.

Source: Lizzio, A., Wilson, K., & MacKay, L. 2008. Managers’ and subordinates’ evaluations of feedback strategies: The critical contribution of voice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 919-946.

Overall Performance Ratings Can Incorrectly Label Employees

Performance evaluations usually end with employees receiving a single overall performance rating, such as “below expectations” or “exceeds expectations”, etc. Today’s best managers know that overall performance scores can incorrectly “label” an employee and can overlook employee strengths and weaknesses. An overall performance label can hurt employee self-esteem and lower motivation. To help solve this problem, some companies are avoiding overall ratings, and giving employees only scores for specific job performance skills that could be improved or changed. This approach can lead to higher job performance and higher employee self perceptions.

Source: King, J. F. 2008. How managers think: Why the mediated model makes sense. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 180-182.

Team Conflict Should Be Managed Rather Than Ignored

Today’s best managers know that conflict can escalate as employees become members of teams with increasingly diverse individuals. Some employees may try to avoid or ignore conflict on their teams, but that strategy won’t be effective. Today’s best managers need to show employees how to cool off when they get into heated team conflicts, then how to slow down and focus on solving conflict problems. Managers need to show employees how to solve the two main types of conflict: task conflict and relationship conflict. Relationship conflict is more likely the cause of conflict that leads to poor team productivity compared to task conflict.

Source: Flanagan, T. A., & Runde, C. E. 2008, May/June. Hidden potential: Embracing conflict can pay off for teams. Leader In Action, 28, 8-12.

How You Present Tasks To Employees May Increase Their Choice To Get Work Done

Today’s best managers know that employees are often faced with the choice of getting work done versus goofing off and doing other things on the web. Which activity employees choose to do can depend on how the items are presented. When a work activity and a fun activity are presented together, then people tend to choose doing some of both, work some and play some. However, when the two activities are presented to people separately, people more often tend to do the right thing, and get the work done, and forego playing around.

Source: Fishbach, A., & Zhang, Y. 2008. Together or apart: When goals and temptations complement versus compete. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 547-559.

Not Meeting Employee Expectations May Not Be As Bad For Organizations As Was Thought

Managers know that unmet employee expectations on the job can negatively affect: organizational commitment, job performance, absenteeism, motivation, job satisfaction, and turnover. However, today’s best managers know that the influence of unmet employee expectations on job attitudes and behaviors may be less powerful than was once thought. Instead, actual experiences may play a more important role than meeting or not meeting employees’ expectations. Although meeting employee expectations is still important, today’s best managers can worry less about the negative results that doing so might have on employees’ behaviors and attitudes on the job.

Source: Brown, S. A., Venkatesh, V., Kuruzovich, J., Massey, A. P. 2008. Expectation confirmation: An examination of three competing models. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105, 52-66.

Simple Principles: To Think Big And Achieve Success.

Success is different for everyone. What you define as success should be what you aspire to have and to become for your life. The book stresses that individuals should become people of increasing value. The book offers 200 simple principles for achieving success, and is written around three main areas: increased productivity, importance of networking, and taking the initiative and making things happen. Simple principles include: identify the skills that you have, then put them to use, never eat alone, write your own blog, be sure not to burn bridges, don’t wait to be told, make your voice heard, and don’t be afraid to break the mold.

Simple Principles: To Think Big And Achieve Success. By Alex A. Lluch and Helen Eckman, 2008, WS Publishing Group, San Diego, CA, ISBN: 978-1-934386-07-1.

Employees Assess Fairness By Looking at Both the Decision Maker and the Overall Organization

Managers would like employees to believe that organizational processes and outcomes are fair. Today’s best managers know that employees assess the fairness of both people making decisions and the fairness of the organization as a whole. Employees can have higher perceptions of fairness when they trust a decision-maker compared to when they don’t trust that person. Employees may have higher levels of commitment to the organization and may be more likely to be a good citizen when they believe that the overall organization is fair. Improving employee fairness perceptions of the organization doesn’t happen quickly, and must be developed over time.

Source: Choi, J. 2008. Event justice perceptions and employees’ reactions: Perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 513-528.

Agreeable, Conscientious, and Emotionally Stable Employees May Quit Less Frequently

Today’s best managers know that most organizations use job applicant information to predict future job performance. However, they also know that personality information, measured during the application process, may also be important for improving job satisfaction and lowering turnover. Employees who are more conscientious and agreeable are more likely not to quit. An agreeable employee is warm, likeable, and caring. A conscientious employee is dependable, prepared, and detail oriented. Employees who are less emotionally stable may be more likely to quit. Employees who are low in emotional stability tend to be unsure about their ability to perform their job. Using personality information in your hiring process may help lower employee turnover.

Source: Zimmerman, R. D. 2008. Understanding the impact of personality traits on individuals’ turnover decisions: A meta-analytic path model. Personnel Psychology, 61, 309-348.

Pay Arrangements Tend To Influence Employee Productivity

Today’s best managers know that how employees are paid can influence their productivity levels. Employees in payment arrangements where pay is a function of worker productivity tend to earn more and be more productive than when employees are not in such arrangements. An example of this is a piece rate system where employees make more money when they produce more pieces of product. Unfortunately, this trend tends not to hold for executives or for profit-sharing plans. In general, employees paid on a piece rate basis tend to make more money than those on a fixed rate pay plan.

Source: Pekkarinen, T., & Riddell, C. 2008, April. Performance pay and earnings: Evidence from personnel records. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 61, 297-319.

Macho Behaviors Can Prevent Men From Being Successful

Managers used to believe that male employees where successful when they were mean, macho, roughnecks. Today’s best managers know that jettisoning unnecessary macho behaviors can be more beneficial to an organization than will stereotypical masculine behaviors. Male employees have been found to be successful when they admit mistakes, publicly appreciate their fellow male employees, and talk about the stresses that they face on the job. The characteristics that make male employees successful today include: being open to new information, challenging their assumptions about how things should be done, and admitting when they are wrong.

Source: Ely, R. J., & Meyerson, D. 2008, July-August. Unmasking manly men. Harvard Business Review, 20-21.

Small Behaviors Can Hurt The Company In Big Ways

Today’s best managers avoid doing small things that can undermine organizational success in big ways. Many managers gripe constantly about the horrible state of affairs in their organization. Today’s best managers try to stay positive and up-beat at all times about the company. Many managers hold an “us versus them” view of the organization. For example, saying that you wanted to give an employee a raise, but human resources rejected it. Managers often give low-performing employees passing grades to avoid confronting bad performers. Today’s best managers don’t avoid problems. Instead, they confront and deal with them.

Source: Studer, Q. 2008, July. Accidental saboteur: Smalls sins undermine in a big way. Leadership Excellence, p. 8.

Personality May Influence How Employees Cope With Workplace Stress

Employees can react to workplace stress in different ways. Today’s best managers understand that some employees cope with stress by avoiding stressful situations, but some employees cope by engaging in stressful activities to get them out of the way. How employees react to stress may be related to their personality. For example, out-going employees may be more likely to restructure problems when faced with stresses. Today’s best managers get to know their employees and help them uncover the best ways to cope with stress that will work for their own unique personalities.

Source: Conner-Smith, J. K., & Flachsbart, C. 2008. Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 1080-1107.

The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny In Business And In Life.

This book examines the power that stories have to change your destiny and change your life. Everything that a manager says is a story. Find the right stories that reflect your ultimate mission and your purpose in life. Get rid of false purposes for your life. Are you really living your story or are you living someone else’s story for you? The three main rules of storytelling are: purpose or what you are living for, truth or your honest and authentic self, and action or what you should start and stop doing in your life. Tap into your four sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, and you’ll tell great stories.

Source: The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny In Business And In Life. By Jim Loehr, 2008, Free Press, NY, ISBN: 978-0-7432-9468-3.

Be A Safe Haven To Help Employees Improve Negative Emotions At Work

One of the most common sources of negative emotions at work is the relationship between employees and their boss. Feeling badly about work for a long period of time can lead to burnout, lower job satisfaction, decreased motivation, and increased turnover. Today’s best managers know that one way to help improve employee emotions at work is to become a dependable base of security. Employees may improve their attitudes toward work if they can temporarily go to their manager for support in times of need. Today’s best managers provide employees with a safe haven where they can securely discuss and work through their emotions.

Source: Game, A. M. 2008. Negative emotions in supervisory relationships: The role of relational models. Human Relations, 61, 355-393.

Nine Steps For Building A Great Relationship With A Mentor

Today’s best managers know the nine steps for developing a great relationship with a mentor: 1) set clear learning goals for yourself, 2) determine what performance obstacles you have to achieving your goals, 3) identify what knowledge, skills, abilities, and other things that you believe you will need to be successful, 4) seek out the most skilled and successful people in your field, 5) join organizations where successful people are members, 6) continually study and learn about your industry and field, 7) meet with potential mentors and express your interest in working with them, 8) keep your mentor informed of your progress, and 9) meet with your mentor monthly for continued help.

Source: Tracy, B. 2008. Value of mentors: Be open to their influence. Leadership Excellence, 25/1, p. 4.

Be Benevolent To Help Lessen The Impact of Broken Promises Made To Employees

In these changing times, sometimes organizations are not able to deliver on everything that they have promised employees, such as not being able to provide training, promotions, or pay raises. When these promises are broken employees may not be as committed to the organization, my not help out others when needed, and may work less hard. Today’s best managers know that they can help reduce these undesirable employee behaviors by being more benevolent. A benevolent manager is one who personally cares about employees, who shows concern for them as a whole person, and treats employees like a member of the family.

Source: Chen, Z. X., Tsui, A. S., & Zhong, L. 2008. Reactions to psychological contract breach: A dual perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 527-548.

Agreeable And Conscientious Employees Are Often Great Performers On The Job

Today’s best managers know that personality can influence performance on the job. Two aspects of personality have been shown to be related to successful job performance. Employees who are agreeable are often good performers. Agreeable employees are sympathetic to others, think about the needs of others, are eager to help others, and are generous and fair. Employees who are conscientious are also usually good performers. Conscientious employees have a high desire to get ahead, are hardworking, determined, and self-disciplined. Look for agreeable and conscientious employees when you are hiring or promoting employees in your organization.

Source: Blickle, G., Meurs, J. A., Zettler, I., Solga, J., Noethen, D., Kramer, J., & Ferris, G. R. 2008. Personality, political skill, and job performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72, 377-387.

Close The Gap Between Actual Performance And The Vision and Mission Statements

Today’s best managers know that companies frequently have a wide gap between their vision and mission statements and the actual actions of employees. Work with a team to identify areas that are not in alignment with the vision and mission of the company. Set goals and strategies for reducing the gaps between actual performance and ideal results. Get employees involved in the process by encouraging them to identify and share problems with you. Be sure that employees are rewarded, and not punished, for pointing out things that need to be changed to help accomplish the vision and mission of the organization.

Source: Lepsinger, R. 2008, May/June. Starting an execution revolution. Industrial Management, 27-30.

Support Individuals To Lessen Bad Group Behaviors From Influencing Individual Team Members

The behavior of members of a group can influence the behavior of other individuals in that group. For example, when some members of a work group are tardy, this behavior may cause other group members to start being tardy as well. Today’s best managers know that they can lessen these group influences by being supportive of individual group members. Examples of supportive behavior include treating employees fairly, providing supervisor support, giving favorable job rewards, and having favorable job conditions. Providing support to employees can even help prevent further bad group behaviors from rubbing off on other individuals in the work group.

Source: Eder, P., & Eisenberger, R. 2008, February. Perceived organizational support: Reducing the negative influence of coworker withdrawal behavior. Journal of Management, 34, 55-68.

Presentations: Proven Techniques For Creating Presentations That Get Results

This book offers a wealth of information for improving your presentation skills. The book builds upon the foundation of purpose, audience, and topic when developing an effective presentation. The main challenges to overcome when presenting are: keeping your sense of humor, dealing with late arrivers, handling early departures, audience interruptions, inattentive and argumentative audience members, saboteuring attendees, and audience members who steal the show from your presentation. Listen to yourself speak, such as by recording yourself, and you’ll get a wealth of useful feedback to help you improve.

Source: Presentations: Proven Techniques For Creating Presentations That Get Results. By Gary McClain, 2007, Adams Media, Avon, MA, ISBN: 978-1598691535.