Employee Feedback

10 Must Do’s for Creating and Sustaining a Strong Culture

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As you navigate your way through the holiday season and prepare for a brand-new year, it’s a great time to reflect on what you currently do well and what opportunities there are to improve your organizations’ culture.

Here are Drive’s top ten “Must Do’s” for creating and sustaining a strong culture for your organization:

  1. Focus on the Positive. We’ve seen it time and time again what the power of positivity can do!  In fact our positivity pact workshop is one of our favorites and can be especially helpful to those who need a little boost in employee morale.  The positivity pact provides a constant reminder that negative talk (gossip, complaining and criticizing) can bring down even the best organization.  It’s toxic to your culture, and your bottom line, so don’t let those Negative Nellies drag you down!  Next time you catch yourself saying something negative, don’t be the Grinch, instead create Seuss’s Land of Fott-fa-Zee.
  2. Ensure Shared Values. Skills and competencies are important, but behaviors are often rooted in one’s personal values. When we facilitate leadership retreats for clients, we help bring a team’s values to life.  Attendees constantly share that it was eye opening to discover how their values impact them as a person, and what is important to their teammates.  If you aren’t already hiring for shared values we wrote a blog earlier this year that can help you get on the road to employing team members who model behaviors that fit your values.
  3. Give and Receive Feedback. Some of you may or may not know, but before joining Drive I worked for Tiffany & Co.  for nearly a decade and one of the most valuable things I ever learned from their leadership program was “Specific Behavior Impact” or as they called it, SBI.  Since joining Drive we’ve taken this concept (When giving feedback be Specific, focus on the observed Behavior, and describe the Impact it had) to the next level in our coaching conversations workshop where we discuss why it pays to address conflict and how to have comfortable conversations.  Most people love giving positive feedback but dread the tough stuff.  If you’re used to structuring your feedback and developing a strong level of trust amongst your team, the tough stuff won’t feel so difficult anymore.  Want to role play a difficult conversation?  Our coaching calls are a great way to practice giving feedback and keeping your own emotional response in check should it not go the way you want.
  4. Follow-Through. Following-through builds trust and shows your commitment to getting the job done. Consider when your residents have a special request or a complaint, don’t you want your employees to resolve the issue and follow up afterwards?  If you find yourself nodding your head in agreement then you need to model this behavior to your employees too.  After all, they will mirror what they see.  Whenever we visit an organization to conduct focus groups we always advise leaders to share the feedback from our visit.  Sadly, I can’t tell you how many times front-line team members have said to me, “they won’t do anything with this.” When we visit homes and communities we recommend very specific “quick successes” that are unique to the feedback we heard, something like, we always run out of paper towels on the night shift, or ensure everyone has a name tag badge, to show team members that they were heard and that management is following-through on the feedback they received.
  5. Care About Your Team Members. I sat down with my boss recently to discuss my performance (Denise doesn’t like it when I call her my boss but she is after all my boss!) I told her the number one reason I like coming to work is she cares about me as a person. If you want your people to care about your residents, not just checkoff tasks on a list, then you must care about your people! Otherwise you’re just creating a drama ridden high school.  Think about some of your own former bosses.  What about them made them a “good boss” vs a “bad boss”? If you’re interested in facilitating this exercise with your team, let us know and we are happy to send you the worksheet!
    1. Did they care about your career development?
    2. Could you bring up concerns to them?
    3. How were issues handled?
    4. Did you trust one another?

Please stay tuned for a second installment of “Must Do’s” as we wrap up 2017 and say hello to a brand-new year of creating and sustaining a strong organizational culture. In the meantime, can you guess what else made our list?  We’d love to hear what made your list.  Pop me an email at Allison@cultureoutcomes.com

This article was written by team member Allison Duda.

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A Tiny Injustice

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A tiny injustice. That’s all it takes sometimes to shift an employee’s enthusiasm for their work.

What’s a tiny injustice? It’s a slight bias as perceived by the employee.

Perceived being the key word.

What are some examples? A home health aide that shared the administrator never remembers her name, but recalls other people’s names. A dietary aide huffed that the owner thought he was “too good” to talk to her. Why? Because he would drop into the kitchen to chat with the chef about how the Yankees were doing, but wouldn’t talk to anyone else.

When I was an administrator, on the first day of each month I would send any staff member with a birthday that month a card. One month a nursing assistant Marie shared with me she was hurt when she didn’t get a birthday card for her birthday like everyone else. It was the third of the month and her birthday had been two days previous. The card simply hadn’t arrived yet, but it didn’t matter. She felt slighted by my oversight.

Tiny injustices. Small moments with a big impact.

Having your every move under a microscope probably makes you want to throw your hands up and yell, “Why bother?!” If you can’t do anything right in the eyes of your employees, than why even bother trying?

I know that’s certainly how I felt when these tiny inequities would come to light for me.

Frustrated by having even my kind acts placed under an incredibly powerful microscope I had two choices: stop doing whatever it was that people perceived as an inequity or fix the inequity and be grateful that I learned about the perception that some people had.

Who are you question - handwriting on a green sticky note

The answer would depend on the situation, but most of the time I chose the latter.

In the end does it matter? Does fixing these perceived tiny injustices make a difference?

It does without a doubt!

They impact not only the individual team member, but your organization as well.Employees that feel slighted don’t put forward their best effort.

One participant that I had in a focus group said it best when she shared, “If I felt like I was appreciated I could do all the work in this building…by myself!”

No doubt an exaggeration, but an important concept to remember nonetheless. When employees feel like they are valued and acknowledged, they feel like they can accomplish anything!

But too often we think about a pizza party to recognize people instead of the tons of little moments we have the opportunity to take advantage of every single day. (By the way nothing says, “I really put no thought into this and don’t want to spend any time or money,” like a pizza party does! Please for the sake of everyone, except the pizza industry, come up with something a little bit more creative!)

These little moments are a big deal. They have the ability to inspire and motivate. Unfortunately because they are such a big deal, they also have the ability to be perceived as inequities when we are not consistent and uniform in our interactions.

Ready to take on this small but mighty issue? Try these tips out:

  1. When someone shares with you an inequity welcome the input. Don’t fight it! Listen, absorb the information and thank them for sharing their thoughts with you. Promise them you’ll reflect on it and get back to them about what they mentioned. DO NOT FIGHT IT!
  2. Live up to your promise and take a moment to reflect on what the person shared. Do you only say hello to some employees and not each one of them when you are walking around? Do you greet only some people by name? Chances are there is some grain of truth to what you heard. That’s fine. Now that you know better, you can do better.
  3. Remember the first point above? The part where you promised to get back to the employee who shared with you that there was an inequity? Yeah that. Do it! Thank them again and share with them what you’ll be doing. “Thank you Marie for letting me know that you felt badly that you didn’t get your birthday card on time. Because of what you shared with me I’m going to start sending the cards a little earlier. I appreciate you letting me know.”
  4. Resist the urge to say, “The heck with this all! I’ll say hello to no one. Speak to no one, and never do another kind thing for an employee!”

Always remember the big picture. This isn’t only about the tiny injustices, it’s about creating a culture where employees are engaged and stepping up to the plate to get things done!

Tiny Injustices = Big Opportunities

Have you ever had an experience with a “tiny injustice”?

Giving Negative Feedback…Yuck!

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It seems like leaders tend to be divided into two camps: those who criticize every little thing, and those who never criticize anything.

Both can be equally destructive.

I talked about being overly negative—correcting every little thing instead of giving meaningful compliments. I suggested staying away from negative comments and focusing on praising positive behaviors.

And I still think that’s a good way to go.  Most of the time.

But what do you do when you absolutely must give negative feedback for one reason or another?

Delivering negative feedback…Yuck!

Let’s face it: Delivering negative feedback is a bummer, whether it’s in a casual conversation or an annual performance review.

We don’t like doing it, staff doesn’t like hearing it, and it’s just an uncomfortable situation all around.

And if you don’t like confrontation, it’s very tempting to ignore problems rather than address them.

But not providing negative feedback isn’t the answer, especially when something big is on the line.

Start with clear expectations.

Having these kinds of conversations is never going to be fun, but going into them with clear expectations can help.

Remember to be crystal clear and focused in the conversation.

Some people suggest sandwiching negative feedback with statements of praise, but that can just muddy the waters. (Is she correcting me or telling me I’m doing a good job?)

150x150Keep your conversation short and to the point for maximum impact. (Plus, it’s over faster—a win-win for both of you.)

Focus on these tips to give better negative feedback.

These tips might also make delivering negative feedback a little simpler:

  • Remember: there’s a difference between criticism and feedback. Constructive negative feedback should focus on an example, because when there isn’t a specific incident that can be cited, the recipient can easily argue the point, or deny there’s a problem (to you or to himself!).
  • That specific example also offers the recipient a way to improve. If you tell a nurse she has poor people skills, that’s not giving her anything she can focus on changing. Pointing out that she neglected to take time to listen to the important information a nursing assistant was sharing is a specific behavior she can change.
  • Let the other person know that you’re not accusing him of intentionally causing problems. He may not be aware of the problem at all. Geoffrey Tumlin, author of , suggests including the phrase, “I know you didn’t intend to…”  As in, “I know you didn’t intend to make those family members defensive, but that is what happened when you dismissed their concerns.”
  • Try not to call someone out in front of her peers.  If she feels cornered or embarrassed, she’s going to react much more negatively. Look for a quiet, private moment to have your conversation. A no-brainer but one that gets forgotten way too often.

As with any leadership skill, this one takes practice and it’s probably not ever going to be a comfortable thing to do. The good news is, the more time you spend focusing on the positive in your community, the less time you will need to spend on the negative!

Do You Make This Mistake When You Walk Around Your Community?

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One of the most eye opening moments of my career as an administrator was when a nursing assistant said to me, “Denise, all you do is see the negative.”

Me?

The positive, happy-go-lucky one who loved to ask people how their kids were, and genuinely cared about the answer?

devil_angel-150x150Who stopped to answer call lights and help any resident that needed it?

If a resident looked extra spiffy I’d ask who was the person who helped them so I could thank them for a job well done.

If the area looked neat and tidy I’d praise the team.

I made it a point to compliment people when things were going right.

Or, so I thought.

My staff apparently had a different perception of what happened when I walked around.

I am grateful that the nursing assistant had the guts to tell me that day. It took me by surprise for sure and I distinctly remember saying to her in utter shock, “Me?”

She then went on to tell me how I would point out all the things that were wrong when I came for a visit to her area.

In my mind I was highlighting the times that I pointed out the positive things. Didn’t I just say thank you to Stacey for doing such a great job with Mrs. Paul’s makeup?

The problem was that the one compliment that I was putting on a pedestal had been drowned out by the many negative messages I was sending.

I didn’t think of them as negative. I was merely sharing what needed to be fixed. I was calm and kind in my words of correction.

But it didn’t matter. What mattered was that people looked to me for praise and approval.

I was bringing them down.

With my constant corrections, no matter how cheerfully delivered, I was draining the pride from the people I should have been building up.

That one comment from the nursing assistant—“all you see is the negative”—set me on a course correction. I made a real effort to point out what was going right.

I forced myself to dial down the negative observations and turn up the positive ones. 

I fought the urge to think of the negative messages as “constructive” or “helpful.” That was just white washing my feedback and spinning my disapproval.

I had to rid myself of the long-held belief that it was my duty as administrator to correct, that somehow my job had to involve belittling people for their very well intentioned efforts.

It was not easy and I can’t say that I was perfect at it.

The Angel and the Devil

In the presentations that I do for groups these days on employee engagement, I often describe the feeling of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.

My angel would be whispering, “Don’t say anything about what needs to get fixed; it’s not a big deal. Focus on the positive.” The devil would be whispering, “You need to say something. It’s your job, and these people are getting paid to do their job the correct way.”

It didn’t always come naturally for me. Some days it was a huge effort, but one that was worth it.

What to Do and Say

Wondering what works best when you do have to correct something?  I’ll cover that topic in my next blog.

Meanwhile, if you want to harness the power of positive feedback keep in mind some of these tips:

  1. General praise, like saying “good job,” is nice. Specific feedback, that lets them know how they made a difference, is way better.
  2. Be on the constant lookout for behavior that you want repeated. When you see it, give immediate feedback.
  3. Use a simple trigger to remind you to give more affirming feedback. Some people suggest putting a few coins or paperclips in your left pocket for this. Every time you give positive feedback move a coin to the right pocket. No pockets? Try moving a bracelet back and forth from arm to arm. Silly? Very! A great way to remember? Yes!

Struggling with what to say when giving positive feedback? Try one of these lead ins:

  1. When you help your coworkers….
  2. When you communicate information about a resident….
  3. When you come to work on time…

Try focusing positive feedback on areas that an employee has improved and end any of the above with a “Thanks for that!”

Obviously, you don’t need to comment every single time a person is on time for work. That would be insulting for many and seen as disingenuous.

But you may want to give feedback at review time, using something like: “Diane, I’ve been very impressed…I don’t mention it every time, but I want you to know that it has not gone unnoticed. It’s important to me and I appreciate it.”

In addition to more engaged employees, you are creating a culture in which people will start focusing more on the positive.