It’s Not What You Say But How You Say It!

Some employees can't receive corrective feedback because of the way their manager gives it. Click To Tweet

When you coach your employees, do you unintentionally declare war with your choice of words?

Word choice matters!

Managers who use emotionally charged words to give feedback to their employees undercut performance improvement. Here, it’s not what the manager says but how he or she says it that creates the problem.

Poor word choice can undermine leadership communication.

If you ever find yourself in this situation, here’s what you can do:

  1. Instead of losing your temper and letting your employee have it, find a better way of expressing your concerns about your employee’s performance issues.
  2. Avoid using emotionally charged words and take some time to calm down if you have to.
  3. Instead of telling your problem employee that he is unproductive and has a bad attitude, describe his performance in less opinionated terms. What is it that he does that is unproductive and inappropriate? For example, does he miss deadlines? Does he raise his tone of voice when he gets irritated with customers?
To get the best results from your employee while giving them performance feedback, be calm and specific and choose your words carefully. Click To Tweet
Written by Robert Tanner | Copyrighted Material | All Rights Reserved Worldwide

This article is accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge.
Content is for informational or educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional advice in business, management, legal, or human resource matters.

Robert Tanner, MBA

Welcome to my leadership blog. I'm the Founder & Principal Consultant of Business Consulting Solutions LLC, a certified practitioner of psychometric assessments, and a former Adjunct Professor of Management. As a leadership professional, I bring 20+ years of real world experience at all levels of management.

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