Reinforcing feedback, corrective feedback important for staff

He is known by his people as a straight forward and tough superior. Recently, the company implemented 360-degree feedback, the survey result surprised him.
Though his working performance was second to none, his working style was not well respected by his team.  According to the survey, he was perceived as a nitpicker who has the talent for catching everyone doing something wrong.
Bad news was in store for all his team members whenever they got summons to see Khun Ekapoj, because he would always scold his people if there was something going wrong. No one had ever been praised, not being called to see Khun Ekapoj was great news.
I was asked to meet and coach Khun Ekapoj. In our first coaching session, I found that he was a sharp guy who was open to receiving feedback and willing to adjust his style if he bought into the reason.
“Khun Ekapoj, what do you think about the survey result?” I started the conversation after he had finished reading his feedback report.
“I accepted that’s me, but what surprised me was how much my people disliked my style,” he said.
“They seemed to look for appreciation from you” I summarised.
“I don’t think they were good enough to get recognition. Additionally, I didn’t like pleasing people, it was not sincere and useless. I think people needed to know their weaknesses to improve themselves, it was more useful. Am I right ?” he explained.
“Khun Ekapoj, there is nothing absolutely right or wrong in managing people. If it works, it’s right otherwise it is not. Do you think your current management style works?”
“No, obviously not, otherwise I would have got a better score on my 360-degree report from my people” he accepted unhesitantly.
“What would you do then?” I said, challenging him to find a solution.
“Good question, I have no answer. Any suggestion? Do I need to praise them?”
“What do you think?” I intentionally did not give him an answer but threw the question back at him.
“That’s not me, besides I don’t think they’re good enough to be recognized.” He was still in defensive mode.
“Khun Ekapoj, I understand how you feel. However, do you agree that sometimes we need to do something regardless of whether we like it or not?” I asked him as the first of a series of questions, to ensure I would get a few ‘yes’ answers from him to gain buy-in.
“Yes, I agree” he affirmed.
“Do you also agree that as a leader we would like to win both numbers and people?” I continued.
“Yes, if possible”
“Do you also agree that people are not perfect, they do good in certain things and not in others?” I kept on.
“Yes, I do agree”
“Okay, cool. I think we are on the same page. Now, I guess you would like to see your people do more on good things, and keep on demonstrating good behaviour, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, certainly” he replied.
“Have you ever told them so?” I asked.
“Not directly” he replied after a short moment of deep thought.
“Why?” I challenged.
“Good question, I think they should know what I wanted to see”
“Do you think they knew?” I challenged.
“Not everyone!”
“What was getting in the way of telling them what you wanted to see so that they kept on doing more and more?” I pushed him to his boundary.
“Maybe my attitude. I always think that they should know what they do well and I would only tell them what they need to do to make improvement,” he explained his logic.
“Khun Ekapoj, many executives that I coached had the same challenges. They did not praise their people often enough for the similar reasons, however, they finally got pass the word ‘appreciation’ and use ‘reinforcing feedback’ instead.” Then I shared with him a couple of successful real examples from other executives whom I had coached.
I also explained to him the two types of feedback – ‘reinforcing feedback’ which is used in encouraging people to continue good behaviour or actions and ‘corrective feedback’ which is used to discourage people from doing unwanted behaviours or actions. I told him that if he did not feel comfortable showing appreciation to his people because they were not yet good enough but still would like them to continue doing that particular behaviours, he should start giving reinforcing feedback by using the “PAR” model standing for Praise (saying some appreciative words), Action (specifying good actions or behaviours), and Reinforcing (ensuring they know what they should continue doing).
Then we spent some time practising the model to ensure his verbal and non-verbal language was in congruence.

Apiwut Pimolsaengsuriya is executive director of Orchid Slingshot and certified coach from International Coach Federation (ICF). Write to him at [email protected]