by Wahidabi Sulaiman

Created on: July 22, 2009

It all boils down to what you want your team to be like. If you, as team manager feel that you need to wait till the performance appraisal period within the organization to determine the promotions and pay increments, your employees are going to feel the same. If you suddenly approach them out of the blue and sat them down to have a heart to heart talk, they are going to start feeling uncomfortable.

Therefore, decide what you want in the beginning itself. A good period to start would be the beginning of the financial year. This could set the tone for the coming financial year and what you expect of your employees. Implement the new approach and the employees would be more receptive.

Well, a good manager or the team leader would be constantly on the alert when it comes to employee performance. They would always find ways to keep the team motivated, encouraged and focused. This would ensure optimum performance from each and every individual and in turn from the team as well.

Many think that feedback becomes necessary only when something goes wrong or if the employee commits a serious offence. Not necessarily should feedback be negative. Feedback has always been intended as a form of reinforcing positive elements. This needs to be brought back into the team culture as well.

Every time you open your mouth to criticize, note it down. Ensure that you counter it by giving a praise when due. And ensure that any negative feedback that you have to give is construed constructively. This means that you do not point fingers at anyone and that you emphasize what went wrong and how it should not next time.

Ongoing feedback would only work if you are passionate about making it work. If you appear to be just doing your job, the feedback would not work. For that you could just wait for the annual performance appraisal period. For ongoing feedback, you have to start knowing your employees inside out. You need to know what problems they are facing, if they are having trouble working with the other team mates and so on. The moment you show that you are concerned and want to know and are interested in uplifting the employee, they would start giving you the feedback as well.

Always remember that you are part of the team and no one can lead a team without first being part of it. In order for your employees to listen to your advice and mentoring, you need to ensure that you are consistently engaging and communicating with them.

Learn more about this author, Wahidabi Sulaiman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.