When you have employees, it’s important for you to realize that providing them with feedback – both positive and negative — about how they are doing in their jobs  is something you’re going to need to do on an ongoing basis. If people don’t hear from their supervisors, they don’t have any way of knowing whether or not their job performance is where it should be.

By providing employees with feedback on their performance, you can have a positive impact on how productive they are and on how satisfied they are with their jobs. After all, the only way employees can know that they are not performing up to standard is if you tell them. And, the only way they can be sure they are doing things right is if you tell them.  Providing consistent feedback is the best way to reduce the occurrence of undesirable behaviors and to reinforce positive behaviors.

If you have employees who seem to make similar errors over and over, there’s a good chance that you haven’t provided them with sufficient feedback. After all, most people don’t do things wrong on purpose. An important part of every managers job to pay employees on the back when they do things right and to provide them with constructive criticism, suggestions for improvement, and even additional training when things aren’t progressing as desired.

It’s important for small business owners and supervisors to provide their employees with both formal and informal performance reviews on a regular basis. Too many supervisors make the mistake of thinking that providing employees with performance feedback is something that only needs to happen once a year. The reality is, however, that employees need feedback from their supervisors on an ongoing basis.

It’s a good idea to develop the habit of watching for opportunities to praise employees for jobs well done, or for contributing positive ideas. Instead of saving up a list of things that employees are doing right for annual review time, provide feedback when you observe the positive behaviors. Doing so is likely to encourage employees to continue to improve their own performance. The same thing goes for behaviors that need to be corrected. When you observe a problem, address the issue immediately so that the employee can implement positive changes right away.

When you take the time to provide workers with regular feedback, you’ll be playing an important role in building a solid team. You’ll also establish yourself as a proactive, positive leader who cares about each member of the team as well as about doing what’s right for the organization.