The Problem Isn't Their Paycheck by Grant Botma

Author:Grant Botma
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-10-04T16:21:36+00:00

Step Six: Affirm Both Positively and Negatively

So far, we’ve talked about how to affirm your team when you see them doing something right. But what happens when someone does something wrong? How do you course correct?

Most managers are probably wondering, “How do you keep people accountable? If I give them all this freedom, and I’m giving them high fives and affirmations, how do I keep them on track?”

If you have to let an employee know that they’re doing the wrong thing, you’ll still use affirmations—you’ll just use negative affirmations. Contrary to popular belief, affirmations are not all gumdrops and rainbows and everybody getting a trophy. You do have to communicate negatively. Part of letting people know how they’re doing is course correction.

Negative affirmations should be handled just like positive affirmations—they should be specific, and they should be given right away, on the spot if possible. People need to be affirmed as soon as possible—whether positively or negatively—in order to help them become masters of their craft. It’s not reasonable to wait ninety days for a quarterly review to let your team know they’re doing something wrong. That leaves the employee thinking, “Wait, I’ve been doing this wrong for two months and you didn’t say anything?”

You have to have the guts to communicate problems to your team right away. Not only does the employee appreciate it, but that gives you the opportunity to take an experience from potentially negative and turn it into a teaching moment. It’s unbelievably effective to say, “You gave it a good effort, but here’s how to approach it next time. Let’s talk about it.” Or, “Let’s do it together.” Or even, “Let’s find a resource that can help.”

The best way to negatively affirm people is to point everything to your unified purpose, which you will read about more in chapter 5.

The other day, I had to course correct one of my employees, so I just reminded her of the purpose we’re all working toward: “Our goal is to love people, and we need to make sure they’re being loved through finances. When you just did that, it was selfish, and being selfish is the antithesis of loving people well. You have to put the customer’s needs before your own. I know you’re tired, I know you’ve had a long day, but the best acts of love are when we can put other people’s needs before our own.”

People are more likely to change and be more accountable if you communicate how the course correction makes their life better and, more importantly, how it makes other people’s lives better.

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