One of the best ways you can keep your staff happy and working productively is by giving them regular feedback. Tell them how they’re doing against the standards you’ve set for them and your business.

We all like receiving praise, so make sure that you regularly praise your employees for a job well done. Depending on the size of your team, you can write down one positive comment for each of your team, every day or every week – and share this with them on a regular basis. When you see someone doing something well, praise them for it – you don’t need to wait for a formal meeting to deliver praise. In fact, praising someone as soon as you see them doing something well will have a far greater impact.

If you have members of staff who are doing really well, you can move them on in your business. If you have staff that are not doing so well, you need to tell them about it. And you need to do this promptly. Don’t leave it too long if there’s a performance issue, because it could get worse. Address it promptly rather than waiting for an annual appraisal. When someone is underperforming, they need you to tell them about it. You can’t make improvements if your boss doesn’t tell you that you’re not meeting their standards, or doing something the way they want it done.

Feedback can be delivered on an ad hoc basis, in team meetings and at appraisals, which should be done at least once a year ? more frequently with new members of staff. Use feedback and reviews to look at how you can help your employees improve their performance and you’ll be able to keep them happy and work hard for your business for longer.

To find out more about giving feedback, take a look at the short video on my website ? click here to watch it.