A good leader will provide feedback to his team members as self-development. However, no matter what we do to always give positive things to the team, there are times when as leaders or co-workers sometimes we have to reprimand other employees who make mistakes. It’s not meant to be judgmental, but so that the employee can find out his mistakes and make improvements in the future.
The problem is that humans tend to respond more negatively to inappropriate reprimands than the message to the reprimand. This challenge will be faced by a leader, namely being a “supervisor” for his team.
Therefore several studies such as: Prof. John Gotman from the University of Washington suggest we increase the number of our positive interactions at least five times more than our negative interactions so that a marriage can continue to last. The same thing applies in the world of work, research Prof. Andrew Miner of the University of Minnesota in 2015 showed that employees reacted six times more to receiving negative feedback than to receiving positive feedback.
This overreaction to negative feedback unfortunately has a significant impact on employee performance. It’s like saying, when we are reprimanded then we become carried away so that we don’t have the passion (mood) in carrying out our work. At least that’s the result of research published in the Harvard Business Review which shows that half of employees who receive negative feedback will react intentionally to reduce their productivity.
so, how about us? Does that mean we shouldn’t rebuke a team member or coworker for doing something wrong? After all, reprimand is one of the tools we need in managing a team. If you must give a warning, then pay attention to the following:
Table of Contents
Do it behind closed doors
Public reprimands are less successful because employees feel humiliated. As a result, employees focus not on the content of the conversation, but on their emotional feelings.
Do framing
Before starting the session, provide an understanding of the aims and objectives of the session. Framing can be done in simple ways, such as saying “I want to give some input” or other sentences. The goal is to prepare employees mentally in dealing with bad things that will be discussed.
Focus on improvements that can be made
Often when we give feedback we are actually trapped in an emotional state. We focus more on the nature of the employee and the errors that occur than seeing the problem as an object that needs to be resolved together. Make sure after giving feedback, there are points of agreement on the improvements to be made.
Give praise or appreciation for their success
However, the negative input will be embedded deeper in the minds of employees. One way we can neutralize this is by increasing positive interactions with employees. Give praise, recognition and appreciation for the performance they have achieved as often as possible. Don’t just interact when an employee makes a mistake and we give a warning.