for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You migGiving negative performance feedback at work is one of the hardest things to do well. Managers either destroy the confidence of employees by being too heavy-handed or they avoid giving negative feedback altogether.

Because it is hard to do well, managers put it off. Dealing with poor performance infrequently or on an ad hoc basis only makes the exchange worse because the recipient is unprepared. Naturally, employees are defensive when feedback is unexpected. An angry reaction is all too likely, making it much harder for managers to raise difficult issues in the future. So, they resort to sarcastic comments and hints. Or, worse, leave the problem to fester until they can no longer stand it so they fire the offender.

What is the way out of this dilemma? Popular advice only scratches the surface in my opinion. It talks about the importance of such things as focusing on the future rather than the past, of not being blame or punishment oriented and focusing on behavior rather than personality or attitude. Such advice might also suggest focusing on solutions, setting targets and encouraging ‘’buy-in’’ from the team member.

But I think we need to look a bit deeper into this problem. One important point is that if you really want to cultivate ownership for performance improvement you need to get the team member to do most of the talking. Much of the problem with conventional discussions of performance is that managers feel that they need to carry the full load of delivering the messages. This approach is going to be painful for both sides, to some degree, no matter how you structure it.

So, how can you get your team members to tell you where they are going wrong and what they are going to do about it? An important step is to hold regular discussions. I recommend once a month, even if only for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You mig

expected. An angry reaction is all too likely, making it much harder for managers to raise difficult issues in the future. So, they resort to sarcastic comments and hints. Or, worse, leave the problem to fester until they can no longer stand it so they fire the offender.

What is the way out of this dilemma? Popular advice only scratches the surface in my opinion. It talks about the importance of such things as focusing on the future rather than the past, of not being blame or punishment oriented and focusing on behavior rather than personality or attitude. Such advice might also suggest focusing on solutions, setting targets and encouraging ‘’buy-in’’ from the team member.

But I think we need to look a bit deeper into this problem. One important point is that if you really want to cultivate ownership for performance improvement you need to get the team member to do most of the talking. Much of the problem with conventional discussions of performance is that managers feel that they need to carry the full load of delivering the messages. This approach is going to be painful for both sides, to some degree, no matter how you structure it.

So, how can you get your team members to tell you where they are going wrong and what they are going to do about it? An important step is to hold regular discussions. I recommend once a month, even if only for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You mig

past, of not being blame or punishment oriented and focusing on behavior rather than personality or attitude. Such advice might also suggest focusing on solutions, setting targets and encouraging ‘’buy-in’’ from the team member.

But I think we need to look a bit deeper into this problem. One important point is that if you really want to cultivate ownership for performance improvement you need to get the team member to do most of the talking. Much of the problem with conventional discussions of performance is that managers feel that they need to carry the full load of delivering the messages. This approach is going to be painful for both sides, to some degree, no matter how you structure it.

So, how can you get your team members to tell you where they are going wrong and what they are going to do about it? An important step is to hold regular discussions. I recommend once a month, even if only for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You mig

the problem with conventional discussions of performance is that managers feel that they need to carry the full load of delivering the messages. This approach is going to be painful for both sides, to some degree, no matter how you structure it.

So, how can you get your team members to tell you where they are going wrong and what they are going to do about it? An important step is to hold regular discussions. I recommend once a month, even if only for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You mig

for half an hour. The second step is to balance positives and negatives. The best way to do this is to start the meeting by asking your team member to review what has gone well since you last met. This gets you off on the right foot because the employee is doing the talking and reviewing what he or she feels good about, so you are fostering good feelings right away. It is important to probe here so that you get at least 3 or 4 things on the table. You might add one or two that you have observed as well in addition to thanking the person. Then and only then should you ask what has not gone so well.

By holding regular discussions, both sides get used to discussing performance. There are no unexpected talks which can so easily become confrontational. Second, the team member gets used to reviewing successes and, as a result, is likely to look forward to the meetings rather than dreading them. Third, by creating a more positive atmosphere in such meetings, there is a greater chance of the team member finding it easier to own up to mistakes, especially if your style is supportive and developmental. When the manager states the problem, the employee sees it as judgmental not supportive.

Your role here is to listen and coach, not to be judge and executioner. But it’s not passive listening; it’s active probing, using supportive questions. It’s not a police interrogation. If your team member is unaware of a performance problem and, hence, does not mention it, you should ask specific questions like: ‘’How do you feel X project went?’’ If the team member makes excuses or blames circumstances, you should then simply ask what he or she could have done differently or could do in future to avoid this happening.

The point is to use open questions in a coaching style to lead your underperforming team members to deliver the message of where they need to improve, how they are going to do it and by when. Performance reviews will never be a picnic but they don’t need to be torture either.