Visit ReviewSNAP at HR Tech Conference

ReviewSNAP will be exhibiting at the HR Technology Conference from Monday October 3rd through Tuesday October 4th at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas at booth #1051. The company will be unveiling several new enhancements at the conference and will be previewing an upcoming enhancement focused on benefits-based performance management, ReviewSNAP's proprietary tool for taking performance reviews to a higher level of effectiveness.

ReviewSNAP is the only performance management system to bundle fully automated, web-based performance review, 360 degree feedback and compensation tracking modules into one robust and easy to implement solution. Clients range from small organizations to large multi-national firms. The system is designed to work well in organizations of all sizes and types and is affordable to even very small organizations.

The company's philosophy of listening closely to its subscriber organizations has helped it create an acclaimed system that very much meets the needs of its current and prospective client base. Ongoing enhancements are generally defined by soliciting feedback from current and prospective customers. ReviewSNAP is very unique in the HR software industry in that respect and the company feels strongly that a software provider must develop systems that work well for each of its user organizations regardless of their specific culture or needs.

At the HR Technology Conference, ReviewSNAP's industry leading ad-hoc reporting tool will be showcased along with the various features of this powerful and user-friendly system. The ad-hoc reporting tool is designed to allow users to query their respective data in a multitude of ways and to create and distribute reports and graphs that identify important trends about performance management within their organizations. Reports can be generated at each critical level within the organization.

There will be plenty to see and talk about so please stop by to visit us at the conference. And you can sign up for a chance to win a $250 American Express gift card. It you can't make the conference, give us a call at 1-800-516-5849 to schedule a "live" online demo of the system. We will never pressure you to buy anything. Why? Because we believe the system and our level of service speak for themselves. We look forward to visiting with you whether at the conference or by phone.

Empowered or Impeded?

Employees sometimes feel that as much as the employer or manager talks about empowering employees to autonomously make decisions and control their work, there just isn't a framework or environment available to them to allow it to happen. To them, it's all talk with no real attempt to create the type of work culture where employees feel comfortable taking action or making decisions.

Why does this happen? The reasons are varied and many and depend on the work unit or organization. In some organizations, many departments or teams have a very empowered group of employees while a few do not. In others, it is essentially an organization-wide issue.

In those where it is more widespread, it can generally be traced to top management. While they may talk about allowing employees a lot of freedom to act and make decisions, their actions say something much different. It's usually a trickle down sort of thing whereby the manager has been questioned repeatedly about decisions or actions they've taken even though they were very reasonable and appropriate. When this happens, the manager becomes gun shy about taking initiative and then consciously or subconsciously passes that mindset on to his/her employees.

In organizations where employees in most areas really do feel empowered and free to make many decisions and take appropriate initiative, but in one or a few work units or departments there is a strong reluctance to do so, the problem can generally be tracked back to an insecure or controlling manager or team leader. So while the organization has created an overall culture of empowerment, the manager has essentially blocked that culture from infiltrating his/her work unit.

In some cases, the manager is fearful of taking action and making decisions and passes that fear on to his/her employees. In others, there is an overt attempt to block employees from being too empowered, likely as a means to bolster the manager's sense of security. In either case, there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

When choosing competencies to use as part of performance reviews, we feel it is important to include at least one related to initiative or empowerment. What you call it and how you define it in your organization doesn't really matter. What does matter is that all employees understand that they are expected to take appropriate initiative and make good decisions as they deem necessary and that the evaluation of their performance will include rating and discussing how well they either take initiative or how well they give initiative.

Establishing a culture that encourages initiative in terms of decision making and taking action is important to moving an organization forward. Without it, the organization will fall into some level of paralysis. It may not be significant or it may be crippling. How well does your organization promote empowerment?

The Manager-Employee Relationship

You have to wonder how managers who believe they can operate in a vacuum and treat their employees like second class citizens survive as long as they do in most organizations. Unfortunately there are a lot of managers who fit this description at least to some degree.

Employees who have a solid working relationship with their managers are usually much more engaged, have higher levels of overall job and cultural satisfaction, and meet or exceed goals consistently. Those who don't tend to struggle with remaining enthused about their job and the organization.

Good managers work to foster positive and strong relationships with their employees. What are some of the things they do to develop that type of relationship? Here are a few things that come to mind:

- They know when and how to assert themselves.
- They introduce some fun into the work environment.
- They care about their employees.
- They listen and actually hear what the employees are saying.
- They help employees become better employees.
- They recognize employees for big and little achievements.
- They go to bat for their employees.
- They give employees the tools they need to do their jobs.
- They are unselfish.
- They take pride in seeing their employees advance.
- They take an appropriate interest in the employee...they get to know them.
- They are realistic about what can reasonably be accomplished.
- They catch employees doing things well and praise when appropriate.

This list is not all-inclusive, but it gives you an idea how managers develop excellent relationships with their employees. Keep these in mind at all times and work hard to build positive and strong relationships. The payoffs will be tremendous.

Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, But Words Will Hurt You Too!

The way feedback is handled is vital to the way the messages are received by employees. It never ceases to amaze just how careless some managers can be in how they provide verbal and written feedback.

During feedback about performance, employees have a heightened sense of sensitivity about what they are being told and with the normal "noise" that occurs in interpersonal communication, the stage is set for misunderstanding and hard feelings to develop. Being crystal clear when providing feedback during informal and formal interactions is more than just a little important.

Some managers believe that just giving feedback is sufficient. They lack an awareness about how much impact their words can have on their employees. Because employees often misintrepret what they are being told or they hear what they want to hear, the words spoken or written by the manager have to convey exactly what they mean.

Lack of clarity, use of "trigger" words (those that provoke anger or resentment), lack of thoroughness, conflicting messages, and the inability to present negative feedback in a constructive manner are all land mines for performance reviews and ongoing feedback. Employees have certain expectations about the feedback they will receive during a performance review or feedback session. They want clarity, they want to understand exactly how the manager believes they are performing and they expect to be treated with respect regardless of the message.

Managers need to prepare for delivering feedback so that the words being used are the ones that will deliver the message in a way the employee will understand and respect. Managers who think they can ad-lib or just throw some verbiage together are inviting confusion and resentment on the part of the employee. Here are some recommendations for getting the right words into the feedback:

1) Put yourself in the employees' shoes. Think about how your words will affect them. And think about feedback you have received. What did you think was fair and objective feedback and what did you think was unfair and inaccurate or incomplete? How did you feel in both situations? Did certain words trigger certain emotions in you?

2) Prepare. Write down what you want to say, read it, tweak it as necessary, reread and tweak again if needed. Get to the point where you feel the message you want to convey is accurate, thorough without being redundant, and is not offensive in any way.

3) Look at and think about each word you're using in the feedback. Ask yourself if there is a better way to get your message across. Does a particular word or phrase convey more negativity than it should? If so, replace the word or phrase to "soften" the impact yet still deliver an accurate and complete message about the employee's performance.

4) Keep the words simple. Using big words to impress the employees will only turn them off and close down the communication process. If the employee doesn't understand what a word means and doesn't ask what it means, imagine the potential to misinterpret or conjure up inaccurate definitions of the word.

These simple guidelines will go a long way in getting your messaging more clear and more accepted by the employee. Try these next time you're providing feedback or preparing comments for a performance review and you might be surprised at how much more receptive employees will be.