Over this series of blog posts, I’ve given you a lot of tips on how to give effective feedback. And they work, don’t get me wrong. I’ve tested them over many years.
But they’re pretty much useless unless you do this…
Once you’ve given your feedback, you have to get a commitment from that team member.
You want them to confirm that they’re going to make a change, based on what you’ve asked them to do.
And here’s something else you need to know about commitment…
It works both ways.
If you’re not committed to your people, you can’t expect them to commit to changing their behaviour.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say that you have somebody on your team who isn’t doing a specific task. You pull them aside to talk to them about it. And you find out they’re not doing that task because they don’t know how.
What do you do next?
You could follow a negative route and make that person feel bad. Or you can be the person who supports them, so that they learn how to do something new.
When this happens to me, I pair the person up with the team member who does that specific task the best. This means they learn directly from somebody who knows exactly what needs to get done.
And they stay with that person until they learn the task.
If I don’t have a team member to pair them with, I train them myself. I teach them how to do the task, so that they’re ready to take it on in the future.
Either way, I don’t berate the employee and leave them to their own devices.
I learn what the problem is. And then I make a commitment to solving it through training.
That’s what it means to commit to your people. You support them because you believe that they can do the job. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have hired them in the first place!
When you show this commitment to them, they’ll show commitment to you in return.
And this means you can feel safe in the knowledge that they will change when they say they will.
So, are your people committed to you the same way you’re committed to them?
Tim Kummerfeld
The most valuable & practical blog for hospitality venue owners on the web
Need a chat? Want to get some 1:1 help? Let’s jump on the phone for a quick call. Book a time.
Over this series of blog posts, I’ve given you a lot of tips on how to give effective feedback. And they work, don’t get me wrong. I’ve tested them over many years.
But they’re pretty much useless unless you do this…
Once you’ve given your feedback, you have to get a commitment from that team member.
You want them to confirm that they’re going to make a change, based on what you’ve asked them to do.
And here’s something else you need to know about commitment…
It works both ways.
If you’re not committed to your people, you can’t expect them to commit to changing their behaviour.
Let me give you an example.
Let’s say that you have somebody on your team who isn’t doing a specific task. You pull them aside to talk to them about it. And you find out they’re not doing that task because they don’t know how.
What do you do next?
You could follow a negative route and make that person feel bad. Or you can be the person who supports them, so that they learn how to do something new.
When this happens to me, I pair the person up with the team member who does that specific task the best. This means they learn directly from somebody who knows exactly what needs to get done.
And they stay with that person until they learn the task.
If I don’t have a team member to pair them with, I train them myself. I teach them how to do the task, so that they’re ready to take it on in the future.
I learn what the problem is. And then I make a commitment to solving it through training.
That’s what it means to commit to your people. You support them because you believe that they can do the job. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have hired them in the first place!
When you show this commitment to them, they’ll show commitment to you in return.
And this means you can feel safe in the knowledge that they will change when they say they will.
So, are your people committed to you the same way you’re committed to them?
Tim Kummerfeld
The most valuable & practical blog for hospitality venue owners on the web
Need a chat?
Want to get some 1:1 help? Let’s jump on the phone for a quick call. Book a time.