Was talking with my buddy Jared at the gym today. He was fired up about a conversation he just had with a woman at work.

In a few keystrokes he created a program that cuts in half – a 50% improvement in efficiency – the time it takes her to complete a task she does regularly. He saved her THIRTY minutes each time she does the task. She was grateful beyond words and looked at him as if he had created fire! The sad thing here is she has been doing the task for years with no feedback, little training and, as you will see, little satisfaction. It was almost a fluke that he was helping her team in the first place as he had overheard someone talking about a challenge and he volunteered his time.

As they talked after the program ran he asked what benefit she had delivered to the company that day? She couldn’t answer. Ok, what about in the past six months? What did she do that added value to the company? This time she had an answer, “I cannot tell you anything good that I did but I can tell you every single thing I did wrong because my boss always tells me when I do something wrong.” WOW, can’t you just feel the sadness as you read that. The only feedback she ever gets is negative. This happens way too much. I hear it all the time. It is dehumanizing and demoralizing.

Yet, here she was with the opportunity to save time. She was eager but I suspect that will turn to fear and disengagement again as she knows what is coming next from her boss. Don’t be that boss.

Jared remembered the time he came out of a basketball game as a youth. He had just missed a shot with a chance to tie the game as time was running out.  As he came to the sidelines the coach yelled, “YOU MISSED THE SHOT!” Umm, he knew missed the shot. A little support, a little, hmm coaching, might be nice but not the obvious and negative.

I have heard it said that feedback should be soon, certain and positive. Not a bad guideline.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2012 at 1:44 am and is filed under Excellence, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.