Provide feedback to team members to encourage, value and reward

individual and team efforts and contributions

By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
 Understand the importance of providing positive feedback

 Know the value of assessing worker competencies through fair feedback

 Use a two-way communication process with team members.

Provide positive feedback to your team

In your management role, it will be necessary to share work information with your team. This
includes discussing work activities and providing feedback on the team’s performance. You should
be positive to the team when providing your feedback and any negative aspects should be
addressed constructively so that you encourage individuals to adjust to the needs of work.

Positive feedback will:

 Motivate the team
 Encourage a happier workplace atmosphere
 Allow successes to be acknowledged.
It is important to show your team how their work is valued and
that both the team and individual efforts are vital to meeting the
organisation’s objectives.

It may also be appropriate to reward contributions made by your

team members, if so, this should be done in the spirit of goodwill
and sharing, so that all of the team are made to feel valued.

Information and feedback for your team may

include:
 Acknowledging satisfactory performance
 Acknowledging unsatisfactory performance
 Providing assistance to team members
 Clarifying the organisation’s preferred task completion methods
 Providing encouragement to the team and individuals.
The benefits of sharing information and feedback with your team include:
 Successful decision-making
 Utilisation of combined strengths
 Quicker resolution of problems
 More efficient completion of projects
  Increase in employee satisfaction
 Achievement of goals.
Negative feedback will only serve to demotivate your team and puts a focus on any parts that are
not working successfully or providing the intended results. This shifts the attention away from
achievement and disrupts the workplace flow. To get your team on track, you will need to provide
direction and momentum which is best found through a positive approach.

Use feedback to improve competence within available opportunities

When assessing work results, you should focus your use of feedback on worker competency levels of
the person and not the personality. Be careful not to get overwhelmed by personality traits which
invariably contain qualities of an individual that are almost impossible to change and certainly not
through workplace training or competency improvements.

Your objective should be to ascertain whether additional skills or knowledge will assist individual or
team performance levels. It may be necessary to provide additional or further training in areas that
are underperforming or require new skillsets. This is a part of your role to support your team’s work
performance and to assist in attaining your team’s goals.

Two-way communication
In your communications with the team, using an open door policy will help to encourage better team
discussions and interactions. This lets your team know that it is acceptable for them to raise issues or
provide comments and opinions on work activities on an ad hoc basis. It also assists you in following
the progress of work and in addressing needs or problems as they arise.

Team two-way communication includes:

 Providing information to the team

 Asking for feedback and opinions

 Listening to the team

 Allowing the team to respond and provide

comments

 Encouraging the team to discuss work issues

when it is required

 Allowing questions and answers.

A two-way communication process in the workplace should be

concerned with professional requirements and need to be conducted constructively. Always
discourage team members from using this process as a way to be detrimental about others or
situations from a personal viewpoint which holds no merit. If a team member has cause to complain
about another, then this should be handled in a manner that follows human resource policies and
procedures for employee issue/conflict resolution.
Activity
2C
2.4 – Develop processes to ensure that issues, concerns and problems
identified by team members are recognised and addressed
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
 Develop a process to address team issues

 Understand that individuals have different values and beliefs

 Know how to address employee differences in decision-making.

Dealing with employee issues

To deal with any issues, concerns or problems with your team, you should always follow a fair
process that seeks to find a resolution. Your organisation’s policies and procedures will need to
include issue resolution which all employees should be aware of. When seeking to resolve issues
directly with the team, you will need to adopt a system that reflects this so that you also treat
employees equitably and with respect to the issue at hand.

A process to deal with team issues may include:

 Identifying the issue

 Assessing the cause and factors that may

be influencing this

 Gathering information relevant and

analysing the facts of the situation

 Determining a course of action with the

team member to resolve the issue

 Implementing the agreed actions and

monitoring the situation

 Reviewing the situation at a later date to

evaluate the actions and measures taken.

Issues may be raised by an individual (or individuals) in the team, or you may have cause to raise an
issue. If you need to address an issue you have recognised, follow your process and be sure to
communicate the situation and outcomes to any relevant others and to the team. Always treat
matters that have been raised in a confidential manner that befits the situation and ensures an
individual’s privacy is maintained.

Personal values and beliefs

When dealing with employee issues, it is useful to remember that all individuals are different and
have their own values and beliefs. An individual’s personal values and beliefs are developed
throughout their lifetime and are affected by many things; they help to guide the way an individual
lives their life and makes their decisions. This will impact on how an individual works and interacts
within an organisation.
 Values and beliefs can be influenced
and affected by:
 Friends
 Family
 Community
 Experiences
 Religion
 Culture
 Technology
 Media
 Workplace.
Values are:
 Standards that are considered important
 Qualities that are held in high regard
 Things that are considered to be of worth
 Formed by a belief that is related to the worth of an idea or behaviour
 Influential.
Beliefs:
 Are often thought to be related to real experiences
 Actually direct experiences
 Are made up of thoughts
 Drive behaviour
 Can be related to stereotypes
 Are an important part of our identity
 May be religious, cultural, or moral.

The development of relationships

Every employee within the organisation should be respected regardless of their values or beliefs.
Respect with regards to personal differences in values and beliefs will increase the prospects of
developing good workplace relationships.

In order to respect the differences between personal values and beliefs, an

individual should:
 Learn about other people’s values and beliefs

 Ask appropriate questions

 Demonstrate respect and empathy

  Recognise an individual’s uniqueness

 Treat everyone fairly and with dignity

 Raise and discuss ideas constructively

 Deal with other points of view sensitively

 Ensure that other people’s beliefs aren’t misrepresented

 Avoid imposing own values and beliefs on others

 Respect the rights of others to disagree

 Be cooperative

 Not cause offence.

An individual’s personal values and beliefs should not affect their work, workgroup or workplace.
Individuals should not allow their own personal values and beliefs to affect the quality of their work
or their relationships with other employees. An awareness of values and beliefs is important for the
development of partnerships and resolution of workplace conflicts.

Employees should work according to a set of professional values and beliefs. Personal beliefs and
perspectives may need to be set aside.

Anti-discrimination legislation
When dealing with any team issues, you will need to consider any factors that may involve
discrimination. This should be prevented at all costs, for example, if an opportunity arises within
your team for taking on new tasks that require additional skills training, you should not discriminate
against any team members who are older and nearer retirement age. You should ensure that the
best team member for the task is picked regardless of their age or any other circumstances.

Discrimination may occur on the basis of an individual’s:

 Race

 Age

 Religion

 Nationality

 Criminal record

 Medical record

 Marital status

 Disability

 Sex.
Every organisation will have procedures and policies that take anti-discrimination legislation into
account. You should be aware of these policies.