Employees make mistakes, but what happens after that can be what determines if they can learn from it and grow professionally. That’s where corrective action can be applied. Corrective action has the potential to influence, change, and oftentimes improve employee performance through giving effective feedback. Consider following this model of corrective action when confronted with employee mistakes.
| Instead Of | Consider This |
| Let me tell you what I think. | Here’s my reaction. |
| Here’s what you should do. | Here’s what I would do. |
| This is where you need to improve. | Here’s what I think worked best and why. |
| Good job! | I think these things worked great, what was going through your mind when you did them? |
| You shouldn’t do it that way. | Here’s why that approach hasn’t worked for me in the past. |
| You should do it this way. | Here’s something I’ve found to be very successful in the past. |
| Your communication skills could use improvement. | I think it could be helpful to have some set times during the week to communicate the status of your projects. |
Research conducted by The Harvard Business Review has shown that focusing on what an employee does well rather than what they do wrong can benefit them greatly and increase the likelihood of future success. By focusing on “I” statements rather than “you” statements, the feedback becomes more digestible for the employee and helps them consider your point of view. It can feel defeating for employees to hear only what they did wrong, and at times that can become detrimental to their ability to grow and improve. By implementing corrective action into your plans, you allow employees to learn from their mistakes and become better employees while also helping yourself become more open to corrective action from others.
Sponsored by:
