Improve Employee Performance Idea 89 — April 24, 2009: Link Communication To Delegation

Suppose you are the boss of a supervisor who questions why you don’t delegate more of certain types of assignments to her?  Your reasoning is that this supervisor does not communicate effectively.  She is tactless, abrupt, and not very clear in her explanations. 

You have mentioned this to her during performance discussions but not much has changed.  So why not use something she wants (delegated assignments) to get something you want (improved communication)?  Try these ideas:

Every time she asks about a delegated assignment…

• Make the connection between the assignment and something she failed to communicate that led to incomplete work

• Make the connection between the assignment and something she said that had a negative impact on her employees’ productivity

• Make the connection between the assignment and something she said that had a negative impact on her employees’ quality of work

• Make the connection between the assignment and something she said that had a negative impact on morale
 
KEY REMINDER:  To improve employee performance, you have to conduct effective performance discussions, give effective performance feedback, reinforce employee performance, and use effective performance phrases to write effective performance appraisals. 
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Barbara Brown, PhD shows managers how to improve employee performance by linking performance to results. She publishes handbooks that contain phrases for discussing performance and for writing appraisals. Dr. Brown also provides training and consulting. Visit www.LinkToResults.net.