Giving feedback is easy when CLARITY and PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT is part of the normal workweek.
CLARITY. Start by ensuring that team members know what outcomes are expected from them. Write down measurable objectives, due dates, and established weekly Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Teach team members to color-code their KPI with green, yellow, and red just like a traffic light. This color-coding helps both the manager and team members know what to focus on that week instead of avoiding critical conversations.
WEEKLY PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT. Managers that provide performance management and coaching every week outperform those who don’t. The best practice is to schedule a weekly recurring huddle.
TEACH. Teach extreme ownership in the context that sometimes things go sideways. Teach team members to brief you about the KPIs during your weekly huddle. Teach team members to identify the root cause of reds then proposed actions to resolve the kinks that week.
This combination of KPI clarity, weekly performance huddles, and teaching makes critical conversations easy as part of the normal workweek.
Author Kirk W. McLaren, MBA, CPA, IFM CEO of Foresight CFO Georgetown University Lecturer kirk@foresightcfo.com, 202-262-1231