KEY POINTS:
It's the little things. How often do you tell your team that they're doing a great job? Often managers are so preoccupied with their "policing role" that they tend to be looking for something "wrong rather than something that is right", says Julia Christian, a British business consultant and expert in learning and development training. If the only feedback they get from their manager is negative, that's what they remember and they feel bad.
In Britain, Christian was called into a large retail bank which wanted to stop paying staff a 1 million ($2.52 million) incentive sales programme which was having no effect on sales.
She organised various internal focus groups. "What was coming back was that the managers were distant, sat in their offices and only came down to talk to them when they had done something wrong."
Other feedback from the research was that staff team members just wanted to be recognised by their managers.
She spoke to the team manager of one branch who said: "All I want is my manager to know what I do."
Despite being told there would be an uproar if she took away the sales incentive scheme, she went ahead and did it anyway. "We swapped the incentive scheme but replaced it with a learning and development programme for their managers and their team."
The local branch managers retained control of a greatly reduced budget. They had enough to buy chocolates, flowers or similar. And the result? "Sales increased over a year," says Christian. A change took place. The managers started coming out of their offices, having regular meetings and speaking to individual staff.
Managers were sent on a course to help them with their communication skills - for many what they were being asked to do was completely alien. This helped get their "buy-in", says Christian.
Managers were encouraged to prepare staff for a different culture, so they weren't completely flummoxed by a change in behaviour of their boss.
The new regime does not happen overnight. As one of the bank managers said to her: "My staff will think I've flipped my lid." It took him a while to get credibility. His style had been hierarchical and negative. Some staff said: "We don't know where we are with him." When he tried the new approach, they didn't think he meant it; it was as if he were after something. It was a bit like bringing flowers home to your wife out of the blue - it was seen as a sign of guilt.
Try to be genuine, says Christian. "Once you do it, it becomes a natural thing; it does not have to be a big effort."
But it has to be specific. "'Well done, everybody' means nothing - it's about specific positive feedback, otherwise it's meaningless," says Christian.
Halfway through the project, she went into the bank and saw hand-written Post-it notes from managers, stuck on the sides of keyboards saying: "This was great, thank you very much."
"They would keep them," says Christian - as if they were the most precious things in the world.
But be careful not to make people feel awkward with praise. Some people can find attention embarrassing and prefer not to be singled out.
One idea is to have a morning tea to celebrate a team win. "It's a really nice touch," says Christian.
If "can I have a word with you?" makes your staff gulp, think of another approach. A note might suit those who don't like being praised in front of people.
"It's about knowing your team," says Christian.
In order to find out what they are like and the way that they like to be communicated with, use "geometric psychology" - which classifies people into personality types - she suggests. This will give a better idea of people's different needs.
Many companies have a culture where the "praise sandwich" is common. That is, managers often give feedback which starts with a positive, then follows with a negative. So when the praise comes, the team member is waiting for the whammy.
People get wise to this kind of behaviour, says Christian. When they are invited "into my office", they go on the defensive and sit waiting for the negative.
While Christian, who is now working as the executive programme co-ordinator for short courses at Victoria University, says New Zealand businesses are less hierarchical, this country still has its fair share of non-communicative bosses.
And New Zealand managers tend to be blunter when they don't like the way something is done.
In New Zealand, as in Britain, there tends to be a negative stance. It is not congratulatory as it is in America.
Coaching Associates director Linley Rose says think creatively about rewards to high-achieving staff. A half-day off with no strings is far preferable to money. Tailor it to the individual, she says.
The ability to communicate with staff is the difference between management and leadership, says Terry Shubkin, New Zealand manager, account and service delivery management, at international IT services company Unisys.
"Leadership is about encouraging people and making them want to do their best. While a manager sets people to do tasks, a leader says, 'This is what we are trying to achieve and this is your role in it'," she says.
Shubkin says she often hears the comment in New Zealand that people don't know how they are doing.
"They want to be recognised for the efforts, they don't necessarily want big incentives," she says.
Shubkin recently sent an email to a staff member, reporting a compliment a client had given her, saying he enjoyed dealing with the company because of this person. She copied it to the woman's manager. The employee sent back the message: "You made my year."
Gill South is a freelance business writer based in Auckland.
