Hiding your own opinion
Featured in the Managing the Poor Performer training manual
By
Category: Performance Management
Credit price: 2 download credits (Single user)
When you are dealing with a poor performer it is only too tempting to ‘tell them what you think of them ‘, but to do so would alienate them and make matters worse. It is far better to hide what you think of them. The trouble is that this is not as easy as it seems. All sorts of things give us away – the very words we use, the tone of our voice, our body language. Yet, it can be done. There is a view that says we should tell the individual what we think of them and that this will ‘buck their ideas up’. Nothing could be farther from the truth. People want to succeed, they want to be well thought of, well liked, and only when they are do they feel good enough about themselves to be able to perform better. This is not sufficient for them to perform well, but it is one of the constituent parts of a good performance
The training activity opens with a short discussion about ‘hiding your opinion’. The participants give examples from their own experience of instances where, after making a statement on some issue, they have received an unexpected response. The participants consider next the benefits and disadvantages of saying what their own opinion is. In groups, the participants then discuss a controversial issue, trying to find out more about the subject and discern others’ opinion on the subject whilst continuing to hide their own. They then identify the ‘giveaway’ signals they received and enter these on an action plan to take with them at the end of the course. A final plenary session focuses on the six main ‘giveaways’ to control and two methods of controlling each one. The training activity closes with a review of the main points of the rationale.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to help participants to understand that keeping their opinions to themselves is crucial in avoiding a personality focus when dealing with poor performers, enabling them to practise concealing their opinion whilst discussing controversial issues
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:15:00 |
| No of Pages: | 10 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers on programmes relating to dealing with the poor performer, basic interpersonal skills, motivating employees, basic counselling skills, building high-performance team, and introduction to management.
Download the training activity, Hiding your own opinion as featured in the Fenman training manual; Managing the Poor Performer