Research shows that positive questions
about employees’ goals help to release dopamine, while continually pointing out
what people are doing wrong makes them lose focus and shut down.
Daniel Goleman, the father of Emotional Intelligence,
explains how criticism triggers anxiety and negative emotions. When we’re told
about things that we’re doing wrong, Goleman says, it “shuts us down, puts us
on the defensive, and narrows our possibilities to operate successfully.” On
the flip side, when you ask employees about their dreams and how to achieve
them, they open up, think creatively, and feel good.
Goleman notes that for his book Focus: The hidden driver of Excellence,
he interviewed Richard Boyatzis, a professor and neurologist who tracked brain
activity to find the best coaching practices. “Talking about your positive
goals and dreams activates brain centres that open you up to new possibilities.
But if you change the conversation to what you should do to fix yourself, it
closes you down,” Boyatzis says in the book.
Boyatzis’s research found that positive
interviews about goals triggered people’s reward centre and released dopamine,
the chemical responsible for feeling pleasure. But negative interviews that
focused on problems and criticism did the exact opposite, releasing anxiety and
making the interviewees defensive and unable to focus on how to improve
themselves.
Appraisals or performance reviews are not a
time to coddle employees. They are an opportunity to provide honest feedback
and encourage team members to improve in areas they are struggling. To do that
effectively, there needs to be a balance of positive and negative. In
Boyatzis’s words: “You need the negative focus to survive, but a positive one
to thrive. You need both but in the right ratio.”
How do you use appraisals to help your team
members improve their performance at your company? How often do you engage with
your employees to allow them express their dreams and goals?
