Employee feedback should go both ways

By Jeffrey Scott, Consultant

Too much time is spent telling employees what to do. You often give your employees feedback, but instead, ask them to give you feedback. They see so much going on with your clients and company, you are likely under utilizing their insights.

Two years ago I consulted with Maine contractor Mark and Lindsay Clement of Clement Bros. We made many profitable improvements, including creating an employee feedback process effective in increasing company value and employee buy-in. Here is how you can create your own feedback process.

Ask your employees to fill in a survey, then follow up with them on their answers. To create the survey pick some of the following types of questions, and add your own:  

About their job

- What do you like most and least about working at the company?  

- What task is your favorite task/least favorite?

- Tell us about your workload: How do you feel about the number of jobs per day and hours per week?

About themselves

- What are your passions outside of work?

- What skills and interests do you have that we may not know about? How could they be used to make our company better? 

About their future

- What are your professional goals (1, 3 and 5 years)?

- What are your personal goals (1, 3 and 5 years)?

About your company

- What opportunities do you see for improvement? For more efficiency? For more sales? 

By doing this you will develop employees who perform better, have better communication skills, and have more confidence at work. You will also develop their company loyalty if you take the time to get to know them better, and take time to help them achieve their goals. It works!

Jeffrey Scott, MBA, author and consultant, grew his landscape company into a successful $10 million enterprise, and he's devoted to helping others share the same success. He facilitates PEER GROUPS for landscape business owners who want to transform and profitably grow their business.  For more info go to www.JeffreyScott.biz, email Jeff@Jeffreyscott.biz, or call (203)220-8931.