21 Jun Act Quickly to Address Conflicting Behaviors that Hinder Your Team’s Performance
Have you ever given constructive feedback to a team member and no matter what you say or do – they’re just not getting it?
Many teams tend to suffer from performance-related failures when employee feedback isn’t given and received in a timely and appropriate manner. If the manager giving feedback is too direct and not compassionate enough, it can lead to demoralized employees as well as a high turnover rate.
Employee performance is intrinsically linked to the communication—or lack thereof—that comes from management. A Gallup Poll found that the number one reason employees leave companies is due to their managers. Another poll discovered that 85 percent of employees are dissatisfied with the lack of communication in their workplace.
While it’s clear that companies need to place more emphasis on resolving internal conflicts, how can managers course-correct, root out toxic elements, and evolve their teams to operate at their peak performance levels?
For starters, you’re going to need to act quickly.
Act Fast to Avoid the Toxicity
It all starts with the individual. Managers and team leaders need to find ways to quickly offer constructive feedback and interact with employees compassionately and authentically. Otherwise, employees feel like they’re being talked at instead of talked to. This is what leads to defensiveness, demoralization, and ultimately disengagement.
Once an employee is disengaged, it’s almost impossible to root out the problem as there is no communication from the now-toxic employee who walks into work every day with a proverbial grey rain cloud over their head. If left unchecked, the toxicity will spread and start to negatively affect the performance of other team members.
It’s challenging for anyone, let alone a seasoned manager, to know how to communicate with every single team member effectively. The key to effective and authentic communication is the ability to understand your employee’s needs so you can deliver feedback in a manner that “feeds their needs.” Most leaders manage their people through the golden rule, which is to treat everyone in the way you would want to be led.
We equip our clients with the ability to lead through the Platinum Rule, which is to lead others as they “need” to be (led). Leading through the Platinum Rule will allow you to provide constructive feedback in a way that your employees are wired to receive it. This way, they won’t take it personally, and will instead use it to better themselves, their processes, and the entire team as a whole.
This is where Predictive Index (PI) can help.
How PI Can Help
The best way to provide well-received constructive feedback is to have an objective way to understand how your people are wired, which is what PI is designed to do.
For example, some people may be hard-wired to resolve conflict and process information through speaking, while others may process best through an internal introspective, and therefore need time to process before verbalizing.
If you have two people with opposing needs on the same team, there’s no way that either one of them will work well together without first understanding how to effectively communicate.
PI helps managers and team leaders create a road map into the minds and personalities of your team members. It provides data that creates a common, objective language within the team that clearly shows how each team member needs to work. This way, having feedback a conversation becomes a more authentic, customized, and actionable experience.
PI Can Help Address Poor Team Performance
You’ll inevitably see instances where an individual’s behavior runs counter to the company culture. The only way to mitigate this is to speak with them quickly.
Organizations that don’t confront problem individuals will send mixed messages to other employees, and this can undermine engagement and performance. By acting fast, you can root out potential problems before they affect the entire team.
PI gives you a roadmap to how your team members are hard wired. It will also provide you with an advantage when it comes time to hire new employees as you’ll be able to build the right team without any guesswork.