Did you know that on average employees get about sixteen pieces of negative feedback throughout the day
“You’re five minutes late…”
“I found a typo in your report…”
“You’re getting behind on that project…”
to every positive?
“Good to see you…”
“Great report – especially the formatting…”
“Love the way you handled that customer phone call…”
There’s nothing wrong with occasional negative feedback – but too much can lead to discouragement, disillusionment, and disengagement. We both know that when people feel the three D’s, they’re not likely to do their best work.
Too often, managers become experts at noticing what’s gone wrong, while taking what’s going right for granted.
Could you spend some time this week consciously catching people doing something right, and change that ratio by letting them know?
