The best verbal and nonverbal strategies for painless, productive reviews

The Art of Performance Feedback

By Stephen Sampson

You probably know the points you want to get across when giving employees feedback. But you may be unsure of exactly how to get the points across effectively, without causing damage.

This book puts all the tools you need at your fingertips with ready-to-use nonverbal and verbal techniques, words and phrases, and even a practical framework for structuring the conversation

Here’s a brief outline of some of the topics:

· Nonverbal communication and how it can influence your outcome by as much as 70%

· Facial expression, the most important aspect of nonverbal communication

· Voice tone and how to control it to create positive—not negative—emotions in others

· Emotional vocabulary, your secret weapon in de-escalating emotions in yourself and others

· Responding, an effective verbal technique that makes conversations happen between you and your employees

· Concrete (visual) and behavioral (action) words that reduce the opportunity for misunderstandings

· Mild request formats that give valid reasons for asking someone to do something

· Give, get, merge and go approach to structuring an interaction

The next time you prepare to give performance feedback, make sure this book is sitting on your desk for easy reference. You’ll learn how to make appropriate eye contact and when to raise the volume of your voice. You’ll discover how to build rapport and avoid overwhelming the employee by focusing on too many problems at once. You’ll also learn how to structure the discussion so the employee has equal input, and much more.

Every page contains strategies you’ll use over and over again to give employees the feedback they need to grow professionally and personally.

46 pp