It’s quite common that when a manager wants to give negative feedback to a staff member they start off saying something nice about that person’s work.

Then the give the negative feedback and follow it up with more positive feedback. But if you are the manager, don’t do it!

This sandwich technique is dissected in an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review by Roger Schwarz.

In brief, Mr Schwarz says this technique not the best way to go at all.

For one thing, the staff member will think that your positive feedback is not genuine. And the staff member will become anxious as the manager lays it on thick, and will be waiting for the negative feedback.

The manager is not exactly being transparent, yet we know that transparency is a key to being an effective leader. In fact, the manager is being unilaterally controlling.

So what does Mr Schwarz recommend? Well, he suggests a transparent method in which the manager says they have some concerns about behaviour, describe it and see if the staffer agrees. Once they both agree, they then can the decide what to do going forward. The manager can even concede they may have contributed to the problem if that is true. This works because it has the purpose to improve things – and both the manager and staff member make choices together.

See the article at http://tinyurl.com/cgztoko