When Criticism Isn't Constructive

Honest, open feedback is important in helping staff members grow and develop. Most staff members want to know how they are doing and where they need to improve. For feedback to be effective, however, it must be constructive. To ensure you're giving constructive rather than destructive feedback, it's crucial to understand your motive in offering criticism.

Unfortunately, at times leaders can be driven to give feedback by motives other than helping staff members grow. Next time you're tempted to criticize a staff member,
pause for a moment and make sure you're not doing it to:

• hurt someone else.
• get even for something done to you.
• vent your frustration.
• make yourself look good to others.
• boost your own ego.  

Leadership Quote of the Week

There is only one way to avoid criticism;

do nothing, 

say nothing, 

and be nothing. 

Aristotle

Culture Trumps Strategy

"Culture trumps strategy" has become a popular axiom in today's management literature. The belief is that having a strong, intentional organizational culture is more important to success than pursuing the right strategy.  The best organizations are not those who always make the right strategic decisions. The best organizations are those that are made up of staff who share a commitment to a common set of goals and embrace the same core values.

How do you create a strong organizational culture?

1. Identify and articulate what your organizations believes. Have a clear, written mission and core values.

2. Hire staff who buy into your mission and embrace your core values. Make values are important component of your selection process. If one of your values is putting the needs of guests first, hire staff members who value serving others and are willing to put the needs of others before their own.

3. Integrate teaching your mission and values into every aspect of staff training. Every topic in staff training should be linked to your mission and values. Teach not only what to do, but why it's done a particular way at your campground.

4. Lead by modeling your mission and values. If you want it to be part of your organizational culture, it must be part of how you and your leadership team lead your staff.

If You Have to Tell Them Rethink Your Leadership

Recently a colleague asked how to go about telling a staff member they would not be rehired at campground the next season. As I reflected on their question it struck me that while the immediate issue was this difficult conversation, there was a bigger issue that needed to be addressed. How does a staff member make it through a season and not know they didn't live up to expectations?

Staff members want, need and deserve regular honest feedback. We need to be regularly observing their performance and giving them feedback, both positive and negative. If ongoing performance issues exist we should be doing ongoing coaching to try to resolve the issue. At the end of the season they deserve an honest evaluation of how they did, both the good and the not so good.

If we get to fall or winter and staff members don't know where they stand on how they performed last season we need to take a hard look at how we're leading our staff.