Are They Dead?

I'm an impulsive gardener and easily seduced by anything blooming at Southern States. I also have a very short memory and no hope of learning the Latin names of any of my plants. So, Spring is a source of wonder, an annual mystery gift. What will these small shoots become?

This year I was happy to see that most of the perennials and shrubs (except for four in the way back) made it through the Winter. I checked again and again, but resigned myself to replacing these four very dead-looking shrubs.

About a week later, I noticed small green shoots poking out of the ground. The old-growth was dead and brittle, but there were new shoots coming up. Thank goodness I noticed before it was too late.

It takes time, patience, and openness to notice the changes that Spring is bringing to the garden. It takes this same patience to notice changes in people, too.

When leaders take the time to notice what is going well instead of focusing on what is wrong, employee performance will improve more quickly. This is contrary to most feedback conversations where the "discussion" centers on "improvement opportunities." Can you honestly say that you have ever left a performance review with more energy, enthusiasm, creativity, or initiative? If your review went well, you left feeling relieved, not empowered.

What will it take for leaders to notice what is going well? How can they build on employee's strengths, improvements, new efforts, and small successes?

I believe that a leader's role is to encourage exploration, notice successes and strengths, and support the employee's engagement in positive next steps.