Providing feedback is a fundamental part of how leaders drive performance. It is important to know how to conduct conversations to help team members improve.
Relationship Map
On your Team Dashboard, put yourself and your employee up in the Relationship Map and observe your similarities, your differences, and how you can make an effective pairing.
If there is someone this team member does or doesn’t work particularly well with, view them and the team member side by side as well. Take note on what causes and can resolve conflict between the employee and others.
Workstyle
What environments and projects best allow your team member to flourish?
What is different between this ideal and the work your employee is currently doing?
Is there something you can do to provide a better fit for this team member?
If not, walk through their dashboard with them to look at where they would excel in their work.
Motivation
What energizes this team member? Are any of these factors or incentives present in your team member’s role? If not, how can you help to make them more available in their current day to day?
Tip: For a deeper dive on motivation, take a look at their Motivating Values assessment results!
Conflict Triggers
While conflict triggers are evident in the Relationship Map, you can also view your team member’s insights box in the Conflict Triggers category. Take notes on what can cause conflict. What surprises you? What is newly evident to you? What are tactics you can employ in your meeting to diffuse conflict should it arise?
The Meeting
After diving into your employee’s dashboard, you may have some new insights that would be great to talk about with them. If so, set up a one-on-one meeting.
If you’re unsure of where to start the meeting, we recommend you start by reviewing performance expectations, and where this employee’s performance stacks up against these expectations.
Then ask your team member, “Talk to me about what you’re experiencing that’s influencing your performance.” Your role after this is to listen.
When your team member is done explaining, repeat back to him or her the top-line items he or she said, and allow your team member to clarify if something was misunderstood.
What’s Next?
Getting the facts out on the table helps make the conversation objective. But it’s hard for these kinds of conversations to be void of emotions, so if you observe tensions rising, think back to their Conflict Triggers.
Guide the conversation towards actions you and your team member can take to better set them up for success. If it helps, pull up Cloverleaf to discuss the specific items that stood out to you.