You are never going to be in an office where everyone agrees all the time. In fact, it's actually better for business to have disagreement as you'll see different perspectives and come to the best solution. One you may not have thought yourself.
Unfortunately all too often disagreements turn into conflict and before you know it there are behavioural issues being escalated to HR to sort out. With effective frontline leadership skills in place it doesn't have to be this way. Given the right tools to sort out differences in a constructive way at the level they happen, there is no need for these disagreements to become issues.
When I talk about frontline leadership skills, I mean a package of skills for frontline managers and team leaders. Perhaps one of the best places to start is your own behaviour and how you provide feedback and coaching.
Most of us are so focused on the result we forget to look at what behaviours we need to establish the result. I call these critical behaviours. If you look at your high performers you will soon spot a trend in the consistent use of several behaviours they apply in talking with their customers - these are your critical behaviours.
Learning to apply these behaviours to your average performers gives you a positive focus in your feedback. Don't look just for what your people are doing wrong, look for what they are doing right. Spend a significant amount of time with your team looking at what they are doing. You will soon have the opportunity to see what is what.
Giving positive feedback is more than just saying well done. For it to really work and reinforce the critical behaviours it needs to be timely (there and then), detailed and accurate. The same can be said for corrective feedback.
In addition for corrective feedback to work and the change to take place in your employees' behaviour they need to be in the right frame of mind. This is where the positive feedback comes in. I believe the most effective ratio is at least four positive comments to every corrective comment. The positive comments help your team believe in themselves, it builds confidence in a job being done well. They become engaged employees and are willing to go the extra mile.
In this positive work culture environment, it becomes a lot easier to deal with burgeoning conflicts. When an employee is engaged with their role they are much more open to change. With this approach, conflicts are a lot less likely to turn into behavioural issues that require HR intervention.
For more tips on helping your average employees turn into top performers see my blog http://www.frontlineleadership.com
James Brava is a specialist in Frontline Leadership Training which results in significant improvement in employee engagement and business performance.
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