How do you keep positive feedback from becoming ineffective or trivial in an environment where there is not a lot of task or project based work?
I manage a help desk and we're largely reactive. I give feedback when I monitor calls or see good work on documentation, or attendance, etc; however, we don't do much project work and I don't really have a ton of tasks I can assign people to provide opportunities for feedback. There's only so many times I can provide positive feedback for someone clocking in on time or answering the phone right before it becomes trivial and doesn't mean anything.
Is this more of an issue of me being unskilled at the feedback model, or have other people run into the same issues? If it's just me, I'll keep practicing, but if others have tips on keeping feedback fresh or keeping feedback fresh in my type of environment, I'd appreciate some
I can understand...
..but it's not something I have really experienced. Not saying you're wrong to be experiencing it, just not something that has ever bothered me.
My thoughts:
1. Keep giving it even when it seems trivial. It matters. One of the things I've learned is that we don't see things like our directs do. Some are perhaps cynical...but many are not.
2. Increase your direct supervision. Monitor calls more. Look for specific stuff they do THEN, and give feedback then. If that's what they spend most of their time doing, THAT IS NOT TRIVIAL.
3. Keep working at it. When you really need it - for both positive and negative feedback - you'll be so good at it it will be second nature. This is REALLY valuable when it's negative and you're just beginning to give it to someone who's new to it.
Sorry it took me so long to answer....
Go Pack!
Mark