Sandwiches

There are two sandwiches that one hears of in the practice of management.

The first is the sandwich technique of performance evaluations. You tell the employee something positive, then discuss the performance that needs improvement, and ultimately wrap up with another positive observation to lift the person off the floor. Although this technique has its virtues, it doesn't take long for the employee to catch on that the positive intro is going to be followed by something bad - maybe a mild correction or perhaps a clip to the jaw - and so all of the positive stuff becomes lost as the person prepares to duck. They know what the real message is.

The other sandwich is more helpful. That's when you ask an employee how things are going. You get a positive response, followed by the truth or a hint at the truth, followed by another positive response. "Things are going great. We're a little behind in our production targets but we expect to have everything in order in a couple of weeks."

Now it's your turn to know what the real message is.