Employee Feedback

We have all heard the distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The letter of the law in an interpretation at a technical level; one that is accurate but somewhat mechanical. The spirit of the law is governed by the original intent behind the creation of the law in the first place. We all intuitively understand that the spirit of the law is about an authentic desire to make something intrinsically better.

The spirit of the law has an authenticity that drives us toward an envisioned future state with the expectation that the future state will allow our part of the world to function much better than the current state. The letter of the law is just a means to an end, while the spirit of the law is a better way of being and operating.

This distinction applies to acknowledging the people who work for you – and this is a powerful distinction. Many management training courses will tell you that the techniques of acknowledgement narrowly consist of how to say something or how to phrase a letter or note. While useful techniques, they fall flat if they are only applied in a mechanical fashion. If a manager is only concerned with getting what they want, the experience can have a feeling of manipulation.

Many newly minted managers will learn the techniques of praise, feedback, and the various ways they can tell people “a job well done.” Developing these technique is important and will be mastered over time. But as you get more experience and integrate these techniques into your repertoire, you realize they are only delivery systems and not actual authentic appreciation. Employees can spot mere technique without genuine emotion very easily. To have real impact, you have to go deeper by truly expressing genuine appreciation. You can’t fake this feeling nor generate it from technique alone.

Genuine acknowledgement requires examining your real truth by looking within yourself and answering honestly, “Do I really appreciate the people who work for me,” and “Do their efforts, their sacrifices, no matter how large or small, really matter to me?” You can only generate real and authentic appreciation if the answer is an honest yes.

Many managers, often behind closed doors, will grumble things like, “They are getting paid to do their job” and “Nobody ever thanked me…and I still did the job well.” Often times those managers think that no one is appreciating them, so why should they appreciate others? They won’t say these things out loud, but they will think them.

There are various levels of meaning for the simplest of things. When a manager says “Good job!” usually the employee learns very quickly how to interpret that feedback:

Option 1: “Good job, you produced the result I wanted.”
Option 2: “Good job, you went above and beyond and I really appreciate it.”
Option 3: “Good job, you make a difference here and I really appreciate your impact on the team and the results you generate.”

If you can’t generate the feeling state of genuine appreciation, then there are two basic paths to explore. One, you need to do some inner work and clear your own obstacles. Two, you have the wrong people and you really are not getting the kind of performance you want. If you have the wrong team, you can get caught trying to provide positive feedback and not really meaning it.

Don’t confuse demonstrating appreciation with accepting mediocre performance. High standards and deep appreciation are NOT mutually exclusive. True depth of acknowledgment is much more powerful than most leaders realize. The individual before you, at whatever level, decided to work for your organization of their own free will. They probably put in a significant effort on the project, re-arranged personal commitments, worked long hours, worked weekends when their spouse had to cover their children (he or she has a job too). Yes – this is required to be successful in today’s competitive workplace.

All the more reason to acknowledge rather than ignore it because “we all have to do that.” When a leader has that deep appreciation and acknowledgment inside them, it can practically be felt in their presence. It is both as simple and as complex as “they really mean it…no ulterior motive; they just appreciate all I have done.” When a leader goes within themselves and holds a true decision to express the gratitude and appreciation for what their people do – their people will feel it at a gut, emotional level. We all need reminding that most communication is non-verbal. Research has begun to unveil the complexity of the human face and how we are genetically encoded to read the facial expressions and emotions that seem to be universal on the planet. Your employees can often discern what you really feel just by looking at the expression on your face.

So the inner work of the leader, particularly in the changing demographics coming in the workplace, is to learn to hold a clear, clean strong field of acknowledgement and appreciation. The ultimate goal is to recognize the depth of the individual and that they decided, of their own free will, to put in the effort and turn in a solid performance.

Your job as a leader is to fan that flame of individual, free will choice because there is nothing more powerful in organizational life. Encourage them to get better, be clear about where they have to improve, and honor the power of someone’s true internal commitment to turn in a good performance. Do this and next time you will see something even better.

The most powerful competitive advantage in any organization is the free will choice of its people. If those employees decide – because they choose to – to commit to your organization and what it is doing, it is likely to be one of the great companies of our time.