The traditional method by which they are taught to provide performance feedback to employees, sometimes referred to as “constructive criticism,” is often the very reason they avoid giving feedback in the first place.

That kind of feedback is typically framed as: problem, examples of shortcomings and negative impact. Inherent limitations with this kind of communication frequently manifest themselves as follows:

• From the employee’s perspective this information comes across as finger pointing, fault finding and disciplinary. Typical outcome: Defensive reaction
• Most of us avoid conflict like the plague. Who wants to be on the other side of dealing with the employee’s defensive reaction?

So what can managers do about it? How can they create talking points that are honest, not watered down yet hearable and sayable?

Understanding uncensored perceptions is the key. These are the real feelings about a person or circumstance, which would be inappropriate to share in their raw form. “He’s so high-maintenance”, “She’s a slacker” and “he inundates people with too much information” are examples of feelings managers might have but are appropriately unwilling to share.

Censoring some perceptions is probably a good thing, yet most often the manager simply won’t say anything at all. The person who should be receiving feedback misses out on the opportunity to gain some awareness around a key issue.

If you are a manager experiencing this sort of problem, try taking your negative thought and translating it into language that describes the exact opposite. The result should be talking in terms of what you want to have happen as opposed to talking about the problem behavior or performance.

Here are some examples of negative thoughts translated into “develop the ability to” statements:

The lesson here is to frame performance issues as future-focused thought that describes what the performance could and should be. The statements above are just the beginning of the conversation, you’ll need to explain in detail what you mean by “Use your experience and knowledge to mentor those with less experience.” You’ll need to reach agreement with the employee on what the associated actions will be in order to meet the performance objective.

Part of the Management Tips to Successfully Motivate Gen Y series:

1. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y
2. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y (part 2)

As promised, here’s part two of Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y

1. Don’t Expect Them to Read Your Mind.

Skills and habits that may seem obvious to X, Boomer and traditionalists managers are sometimes not obvious to Y’s simply because they were born and raised in a completely different era! Tell them what you need, how you need it, when you need it and why you need it. Spelling it out will take time but will save you time in the end.

2. Set Boundaries from the Top and With Respect.

Its not the job of employees to figure out what is expected of them or what the boundaries are in their new job – boundaries need to be set and communicated from the top-down! Be clear about your boundaries, what you need from your team, what rewards they will receive for work well done and also any consequences if job expectations are not met. As long as you’re clear, and your expectations are reasonable and spoken in a tone of respect, Gen Y’s will step up!

3. Listen, Challenge and Give Feedback.

Gen Y’s often tell me that they are unchallenged and bored. They often say they ask for more work from their boss but their requests are either ignored or downplayed. Providing challenging work will not only help get more work done – but will motivate them to stay engaged and plugged into your company! Give them regular and immediate feedback. Let them know what they are doing that is good as well as areas that need work. They want to excel and the more they know how they are measuring up to your standards the better!

4. Ask Their Expectations.

Take time to find out what your Gen Y employees’ ambitions are. If they seem unrealistic to you, use a tone of respect and be honest with what you think more realistic expectations would be. Share your wisdom about what they can do practically to achieve these goals.

Part of the Management Tips to Successfully Motivate Gen Y series:

1. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y
2. Practical Tips for Managers to Motivate Gen Y (part 2)

As more Gen Y’s enter the workforce, many older generations seem puzzled and often confused about this “new generation”. They’ve heard stories, they’ve read articles and they wonder if managing this new generation is really going to be different.

As a consultant who works with all generations, I’m excited for this challenge in our workplace cultures! Why? Because I think Gen Y will force the rest of us to get our act together. They will encourage us to step up to the plate, communicate with respect, be clear about our expectations, and partner and work as a team.

I’ve worked with managers of all generations, so here are three tips for how managers can successfully manage Gen Y, especially during these tough economic times:

1. Focus on the Power of Influence, Not the Power of Authority
   Many managers believe that because of their position younger generations “should” respect them. However, many Gen Y’s believe respect is to be “earned” not “given”. Simply listening, praising work well done and being genuinely interested in your employees (which are basic skills great managers do anyways) will not only help retain and motivate them, but also inspire them to work hard for you!
2. Point the Finger Inward, not Outward
   It’s easy to blame, point fingers and throw our hands up wondering why this next generation is “this way”. They are often described as being entitled, spoiled and the “Me” generation. Yet we forget that as a culture we’ve taught them this! Instead of blaming them, we should ask ourselves the question – what can I learn from Gen Y? What can they learn from me? Simply changing our perception towards them radically changes how we communicate to them and how they communicate back to us.
3. Don’t be Fooled by Arrogance
   Often I read that Gen Y’s are ‘so confident’, yet Gen Y’s have often admitted to me that they battle with insecurity, anxiety and worry. Their insecurity is often covered by a mask of arrogance. As we go through this economic crisis, expect anxiety and insecurity to rise.  Simply investing into your employees, asking how they are feeling about the crisis (again a basic skill great managers do) will go a long way toward engaging and motivating them!

For further insight into Gen Y in the workplace, check out my post What Gen Y Really Wants At Work. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow to learn the remaining tips.

While some industries are better suited to foreign expansion than others, successful internationalization ultimately comes down to managerial will and skill.

Check out why Daniel and David believe international markets are a key component to the success of Rypple.

It was not until much later in my career where I witnessed how destructive a leader who’s IQ far exceeded his EQ could be to an organization.

This person had an impeccable resume; great experience and multiple degrees from Ivy League Schools. During the interview process, many of the leaders in the organization had concerns about hiring this person. Instead of listening to their own intuition and honoring the feedback of the team, the leader of the organization (with the enthusiastic support of the CEO and the Head of HR) decided to hire the person into a very important and senior role.

When the person started, they certainly had good ideas about how to positively impact the business. However, instead of building relationships with the current team, gaining support and alignment on their ideas, they did just the opposite. They tried to forge forward on their own, having no regard for the people and the culture of the organization. This person had little interest or skill in people leadership and led in a “command and control” style that was rejected by the rest of the organization.

While initially this person made some traction with their ideas, ultimately they were unable to execute on any of their plans and asked to leave the company. They did not have the trust, support or cooperation of anyone in the organization. The damage this person caused, both from a revenue perspective and people perspective, was fairly substantial.

This was the clearest example I’ve witnessed of how important emotional intelligence is to success. It was also a great example of what can happen when you don’t listen to your team and honor intuition. This hiring error caused a lot of problems for the organization and the company.

Daniel Goleman writes about the Five Components of Emotional Intelligence at work in his 1998 Harvard Business Review Article, “What Makes a Leader”.  Whether you believe in EQ or not, thinking about incorporating these qualities in your leadership style can help you be a better and more fulfilled leader.

Daniel Goleman’s key components of EQ:

• Self-Awareness: the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives as well as their effect on others.
• Self-Regulation: the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods.  The propensity to suspend judgment – to think before acting.
• Motivation: a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status. A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.
• Empathy: the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions

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• Social Skill: proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. An ability to find common ground and build rapport.

The scarcest and most precious variable in a matrix is time! Time management is about taking control of your time. When you control time you enhance relationships, improve quality and reliability of your deliverables, and reduce stress.

Here are six steps to control your matrix:

1. Develop time boundaries that fit your plan. You do have a plan and plan your time?
2. Sit down and block time for critical parts of your life. This should include work, fun, family, exercise, etc. As you do this, align work blocks to your high productivity daily cycle, and exercise and repetitive tasks to your low productivity periods. For example, if you are a morning person, high intensity and priority work and thought gets scheduled then. No meetings or interruptions during these times.
3. Agree on time commitments. Develop an understanding and agree on expectations for time commitments with key personnel and work relationships. Seek feedback from partners on how well you are using your time together.
4. Declare to all what time is their time and what time is not! Let the company understand they can’t have you Sunday, you are not checking email Saturday night! You are not taking assignments Friday at 4pm for Monday 8am, and conference calls are not happening Sunday morning. If it was that important they can plan it better! Use your judgment to deal with exceptions. Let your family know that 3 hours minimum every weekend are for work completion, planning and refinement. And set that time aside.
5. Stick to your commitments That is, be engaged 100% in the moment. Do not multitask at dinner with your family. Give yourself the joy of commitment in the matrix. Let your company see that work time is work time and you are really on the job 100%.
6. Know everyday what is the one thing that must get done above all others, and do it!

Visualize your matrix and review daily and weekly. How did you invest your time? Get feedback on how effectively you used other peoples time. Adjust and control.

• Identify time wasting activities, eliminate and learn to say no.
• Identify areas where you can combine commitments. For example, Fitness or skill building combined with more time with friends. How about a series of golf lessons at the driving range or a 30 minute run and then one beer with your buddy, instead of NFL on TV and three beers.
• Highlight priority conflicts at work and clarify immediately. You cannot serve all the masters in your work matrix all the time. Get feedback to ensure clarity and effectiveness of time invested.

Adjust. Control. Declare. Your matrix is your time. Become the master of your matrix, work at it everyday.

The new Rypple is three tools to turn managers into leaders and employees into high performers.

Rypple Kudos:

You work hard and so does your team. Recognizing and praising your team’s work and dedication is essential for creating and maintaining a motivated and hard working team. Enter Rypple Kudos. Rypple Kudos is a a social way to publicly praise teammates and recognize them for a job well done. They’re fun too. You can award badges and personalize the design of your kudos. Check out Rypple Kudos for more info.

Rypple Insight:

Rypple Insight is the new way to get feedback. We’ve made getting feedback social to help increase collaboration within your team and make team members more effective. Get immediate, anonymous feedback on quick questions. Gather ongoing insights from trusted advisors. Improve! Check out Rypple Insight from more info.

Rypple Coach:

Great leaders coach their people to help them learn, develop, and improve. That’s why we created Rypple Coach. Coach helps managers become leaders and makes it easy to have ongoing and productive 1:1 conversations with your team. Check out Rypple Coach for more info.

Rypple’s New look

We’re very excited to announce these new tools and the new design of Rypple! We think the new design is much cleaner and does a great job of explaining what the new Rypple is all about. Of course we want your feedback, so let us know what you think of Rypple 2.0

With their plates very full, managers need to make sure they keep their team on the right track and make sure people feel valued. Below are tips to help put you on the right track.

Tips for Proactive Leadership:

1. Calendar 1:1s. Be sure to keep the meetings. I cannot say enough on how important this is.
2. Delegate. This can help your own work load and demonstrate that you trust your team. Nothing squelches innovation and enthusiasm more quickly than micromanagement.
3. Make notes. What is your team doing well? What areas are improving daily?  Give feedback early and often.
4. Understand your team. Do you know what’s important to each person on your team? Not everyone wants to be managed in the same way.
5. Support your team. Use other leaders and people in the company to help mentor and support your team. It takes a village to build a great leader.
6. Pro-actively reward people. A reward does not have to be in the form of compensation. Money is sometimes warranted, but hand written notes, team thank you lunches, and other simple rewards can make a very big difference. If you wait too long to recognize people’s accomplishments people may lose trust and begin to disengaged.

I understand that being proactive can be hard, especially at first. Once you develop a cadence and discipline, it will become a natural part of your daily work. Just like any activity, the more you put in to it, the more you will get out of it. As a leader, nothing is more rewarding than watching people on your team learn, grow and succeed.

In an ideal world everyone is able to deliver potentially difficult feedback with grace and respect. Managers and leaders are able to:

1. Start with the positives to establish trust and build confidence.
2. Offer suggestions that improve future performance.

Benefits of Investing in a Quality Rubber Suit

There may be times when you receive feedback that makes you feel crummy. It feels like:

• It erases all the things you did that were good.
• No one appreciates the hard work or sees the positive results.
• The only focus is on the past and what went wrong!

Given that no one is perfect (not the employee or the giver of feedback), it’s important to have perspective. We’ve all heard the saying that the best way to change something is to start with yourself.

Here are some tips you can try when receiving difficult feedback.

• Self-assess your performance.
• Celebrate the positives.
• Accept the feedback as a fact to consider.
• Acknowledge the time invested to give you feedback as a gift.
• Choose one improvement item that you feel you can work on, and communicate this.
• Don’t let well-intentioned suggestions for improvement erase your accomplishment.

Put on the rubber suit and choose how to use feedback! It’s important to let some feedback bounce right off. This will help you avoid internalizing events that makes you feel unworthy and creates self-doubt. Hold on a minute! I am not saying to dismiss ALL feedback because “without feedback we are flying blind” (great quote by Joseph R. Folkman author of “The Power of Feedback”). The benefit of investing in a quality rubber suit: it helps you accept all feedback objectively to be able to identify the feedback you can USE.

An Example

Your boss asks you to go into his office. You expect rave reviews on your latest report. You worked hard and your colleagues commented on how great your work was. You were not prepared for what happened next. Your manager lists all the things you could have done better. He even says he doesn’t understand why these things weren’t done to begin with and that you should have known better.

When you don’t put on your rubber suit first, here’s what could happen:

You respect your boss’s opinion and accept that your work was unacceptable.

• You feel completely demoralized and unappreciated.
• You think you may need to find a different job because you can’t possibly put in more hours to produce the perfect results your boss expects.
• You have no idea where to start to make things right.

With your rubber suit on, things happen differently:
You respect your boss’s opinion and can objectively see the gaps he is sharing with you.

• You take notes on what he feels you should have done and listen to his feedback.
• With the rubber suit on, you are able to keep the discussion professional and not personal.
• Your boss has taken time out of his busy day to share his thoughts so it must mean that he cares.
• You share the things that you feel you did right and ask him if he agrees. Starting a dialogue here will strengthen your relationship.
• When he is done, you review his feedback and identify the 1 or 2 items that you feel you can work on.
• Communicating this shows that you respect his time. It also shows that you can identify the actions that you can impact the most and how you will proceed.

Join the Discussion

• As a manager, would it be helpful to encourage your people to invest in quality rubber suits?
• What experiences have you had in receiving difficult feedback? How did you feel afterwards?
• How can putting on a rubber suit help you going forward?
• How have you transformed a difficult conversation into positive outcomes?

Part of the What Gen Y Really Wants at Work series:

1. What Gen Y Really Wants At Work (part 1)
2. What Gen Y Really Wants at Work (part 2)

As promised, here’s part two of What Gen Y Really Wants at Work

Management Style / Team

1. Team / Extended Type of Family

Unlike Gen X, many of whom grew up as latchkey kids with parents working all the time, most Y’s grew up with very involved parents. Because of this, Gen Y’s are used to lots of input and feedback! Many want their colleagues at work to be like an extended family. People who can support them and who they can joke around with but who will also challenge them.

2. Feedback

They grew up with constant feedback from parents, teachers, tutors, coaches etc., often telling them they can do anything. As a result, Gen Y’s need regular, specific and concrete feedback and I’m not talking about the traditional bi-annual performance review. One Gen Y told me that he started his job in September but didn’t get any feedback till almost January. In his frustration he told me “Karyn at university I’m getting constant feedback and grades about how I’m doing – right now I have no clue if I’m even close to what is required of me.” Getting regular, respectful and timely feedback is critical to engage and motivate this generation.

3. Respect

Unlike previous generations, this generation strongly believes that respect is to be earned, not given. So just because you are a manager, president, teacher, HR professional (they probably don’t care about your title), realize that they care first if you will respect them. In fact I don’t use my “Dr” title with them because it creates a barrier and most of them don’t really care.  What they mostly care about is genuine respect. When managers treat them with respect, honesty, and authenticity, they will not only listen but will want to please you.

Environment

4. Up to Date Technology

They want everything to happen fast and quick (after all that is what they are used to) so making sure that they can have the best and fastest technology to do their jobs will not only help engage them but also be their most efficient!

5. Balance / Flexibility

I strongly believe that every generation can learn from each other and one strong area the rest of can learn from Gen Y is their desire “to have a life”. They want balance and flexibility. They love goals and projects, so companies who have learned to be flexible around schedules but who have focused more on getting the job done with excellence have succeeded with this generation! After all, working at 2 am for most generations is unappealing, but for young creative Gen Y minds that is sometimes when their best creative energy flows.

6. Caring & Casual Environments

Remember: they want their work environment to be a kind of extended family. A place where people genuinely care about each other, work together and support each other (sounds good!) Managers who are more casual in dress but also in attitude will engage this generation!