This is the final post of four in which we examine providing feedback to young employees using the famed American Idol judging panel as a metaphor to examine various management critiquing styles. If you haven’t been following the series, it is suggested that you begin with the first post and make your way through the first three.

We’re going to turn our attention to the style of the newest judge on the AI stage, but before we do, it’s important to separate your feelings for this show, the contestants, whether of not you feel they should have added a 4th judge, or even for the judges themselves, and focus on the real goal here which is to improve how we provide feedback to young employees using the styles of the AI judges for illustrative purposes.

When it comes to writing hit songs, Kara DioGuardi is a superstar. She burst on to Idol’s Season 8 with the street cred of a Kobe Bryant in a pick-up game and quickly impacted the way the game was played.  Although many Idolmaniacs didn’t like the addition of a 4th judge, Kara’s fair and balanced style of providing feedback has improved the show, and arguably, improved those that dare to compete on this stage.

Kara doesn’t allow her opinions and remarks to be influenced by the comments of other judges, or the roars of the crowd. She is a free-thinker and frequently offers advice and coaching for a contestant that, if taken to heart, will make them better.

Although Kara’s criticism of a performance can be stern and direct, she is careful to separate the performance from the performer and leave the contestant with their dignity intact and their head up. When she is truly wow’ed by a performance, her enthusiasm spills over, (i.e  to Adam Lambert, “You are a Rock god!”)  However, rather than simply gushing praise like Paula, she provides the specific reasons why the performance was a winner so that the contestant can repeat those behaviors and get even better.

If you polled the contestants from Season 8 and asked them to ‘judge the judges’, I believe the end result would reveal that Randy is too obscure, Paula is too soft, and Simon is too harsh. But because she always lets each contestant know what they did well and what they need to do to get better–and she does so with class and conviction–the contestants would tell you that when it comes to providing feedback, Kara’s style is just right.

This is the way I see it anyway, and I welcome your feedback.

As season eight of American Idol draws to a close, we’ll step back from the hype of the finale and continue to use the much ballyhooed judging panel as a means for discussing the do’s and don’ts of providing feedback to young employees. Today’s post is the third in a series of four, so if you haven’t read the others—or chimed into the discussion by leaving a comment—your context will be improved if you begin with the first post on Randy’s style or the second on Paula’s.

Simon Cowell plays the villain on the show.  He rarely gets an opportunity to complete his evaluation without being loudly booed by the audience or slapped by Paula. Anyone who’s ever watched 5 minutes of American Idol knows that Simon can be a real bastard. It’s as if he possesses some kind of superpower that enables him to completely obliterate and demoralize an individual in 8 seconds or less, and he uses it without any regard. From his view, if you’re bold enough to think you’re the next American Idol, then you’re opening yourself to public ridicule.

Simon can’t simply say “That performance didn’t do it for me” or “I do not believe you have the look to win” and allow someone to save face, when “You sound like a cat being skinned alive and roasted over an open flame” or “Your outfit looks like something out of the Addams Family” will call their talent and/or taste into question and hit them like a sledgehammer to their heart.

However, as acerbic and despicable as he may appear, ask any competitor who’s ever been featured on the show and they’ll tell you, Simon’s feedback is the only one that really counts. (That is, before this season when a 4th judge was added.)  Because Simon is honest, frank, and candid, everyone knows that he’s not going to sugarcoat his opinion. The goal of every competitor is to please Simon and get his approval and, when they get it, it means way more than anything Ms. Cotton Candy (Paula) or Mr. Fence-Rider (Randy) have to say.

There is no shortage of Simons in managerial positions throughout America. They believe that to get the best out of others they must first point out the worst within them, and do it publicly. This may be an effective method of improving performance when there are fifty young people in line for every job you have in your organization, but if you aren’t dangling in front of them a million dollar contract with a major recording company and priceless exposure on the most watched television program in history, your Gen Why ain’t gonna take it.

A.I. Lesson #3 - Honesty is the most important aspect of providing feedback. However, you should never be honest to the point that you challenge a person’s dignity and make them feel small. And never forget that any negative feedback should always be given, one-to-one, in private.

(Up next: Kara’s balanced style of providing feedback)

American Idol continues to be our training ground for the next few days. If you’re just joining us, please go back and read Part 1, “The Fence Rider” so you’ll have context for this series.

Today, we’re going to look at providing feedback to Gen Y’s via the distinct style I’ve dubbed “Cotton Candy.”

Eighties icon Paula Abdul is a flower child that nary speaks a harsh word. Regardless of how pathetic a contestant performs, she finds something positive to say about them. If they can’t sing a lick, she might comment on their cute outfit or their conviction to the arts.  If they forget the words to a song, she’ll tell them they hum beautifully.

So what could possibly be wrong with looking at the sunny side of things and always providing warm and fuzzy feedback?

Simple; it carries no weight whatsoever. It’s akin to feeding cotton candy to a starving man; you give him something edible that’s big, fluffy and sweet, but won’t do anything to keep him alive.

If you have trouble knowing where Randy (the fence rider) is coming from, you’re completely lost with Paula’s cotton candy feedback. As a Grammy-winning recording artist and acclaimed choreographer, she obviously sees the same flaws you and I do, but fearing that she might offend a contestant and dampen their self-esteem—or damage her own reputation as a positive/nice person—Paula paints a smiley face on every evaluation.

The cotton candy manager shies away from providing negative—but necessary–feedback to their reports for several reasons.  Perhaps they’ve seen young employees react badly to anything other than good news. Maybe they think saying only positive things will keep everyone thinking happy thoughts. Others simply want to be loved by one and all.

Although the motive behind this style may be pure, no one can survive on a diet of cotton candy. Buried inside each Gen Y is a burning desire to know exactly how they are performing compared to your expectations and compared to their peers. They want to know what they do well, and moreover, what can do to improve, get better, and climb the ladder of success. But providing critical feedback is not always easy—and it’s never fun. It is, however, the catalyst to their growth.

A.I. Lesson #2 - Even if your young employees like you for being cotton candy nice, they won’t respect you as a leader, nor will they reach their potential, until you give them the good, the bad, …and yes, even the ugly.

(Up next: Simon’s ‘hammer style’ feedback)

I have a confession to make.  I am one of those who’ve become addicted to American Idol. It has managed to suck me in much worse than the nighttime soaps of the 80’s and 90’s I scoffed at others for watching. So whether this phenomenon has its hooks in you or not, I’ll assume you have at least a passing familiarity with the show’s format, and we’ll allow A.I. to be our training ground for the next few days.

It’s a foregone conclusion that Generation Why craves feedback. The fate of American Idol contestants rests on the feedback they receive from the judges. The judges on the panel are frequently at odds (providing a continuous sub-theme for the show) and they each have a completely different personality and approach for providing feedback to the contestants.

For this first post, let’s examine feedback from a common management stereotype I’ll call “The Fence Rider.”

Randy Jackson is a celebrated musician and record producer. Wanting to be seen as the hippest guy on the panel, Randy uses street lingo and flashes hand gestures of a twenty-something. Gen Y contestants respond to his excitement and interpersonal style, but can’t ever be sure where he’s coming from. (With his gestures, mannerisms, and lingo, some may even see him as a poser.)

I don’t think that there is anyone who can accurately predict where Randy will fall on a given performance, and few of us really know how Randy feels even after he comments.  Yes, the greatest performances get his “You can really blow, Dawg!” and the William Hung’s leave him laughing and voting thumbs down. But it’s those eighty percent in the middle where Randy’s feedback is a nebulous–and perhaps even useless.

When he says, “I see what you’re trying to do with this, Dude…” or “That wasn’t your best performance but it was just kinda alright,” he’s not saying much of anything. That’s a waste of time to both the evaluator and the evaluated. What good is feedback if you can’t change a behavior based on it?

When managers provide feedback to a young employee that is either unpredictable or vague, no matter how cool and hip it’s stated, it leaves them confused and frustrated. Millennials want to know in black and white terms what a boss wants from them, and how they are measuring up.

A.I. Lesson #1 – Get off the fence and provide feedback that’s clear and definitive.

(Up next: Paula’s ‘Cotton Candy’ feedback)

Whatever you do to earn your daily bread, and whomever you do it for, can you imagine doing the exact same job for the exact same company fifty, thirty, or even ten years from now?  How about in one year?

Most of us can’t. Our career is a work-in-progress; always evolving, morphing, and growing. When we hit a wall, we immediately begin searching for a bigger, better, and more promising opportunity elsewhere.

A fascinating story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune introduces us to Bob Knops, an 80-year-old man who just retired from 59 years of performing the same job for the same company. And although Bob’s job is a necessary one (weaving wire nine hours a day, five days a week, with two 10-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch) it isn’t something that’s on the top of everyone’s career wish list.

Sadly, Bob Knops is an endangered species. He’s a product of a bygone era when the American work ethic was alive and well, and workers happily traded job loyalty for job security. In 59 years, Bob never missed a day of work, always arrived 30 minutes before his shift began, volunteered for Saturday work when it was available, and always accepted the most challenging or dangerous work.

Hats off to you, Bob! We live a better life because people of your generation chose to bring their A Game to work every day.

If you were a 17-year-old kid looking for a part-time job at the local amusement park, how would you feel about competing for that job against a 40-something laid off bank teller with an Associates Degree?

A friend and colleague of mine who lives in Minneapolis forwarded me this story in the StarTribune that reflects the scary state of our national economy.  Amusement parks that hold spring job fairs to find seasonal workers are drawing more than teenagers this year. First time jobber are now having to go toe-to-toe with adults that can show a lot of work experience and perhaps even college degrees, and who are willing to work for $7.50 per hour. Holy Tilt-a-Whirl!

Just three years ago I keynoted the annual convention for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Orlando, and the issue that was of most concern to park owners and operators was convincing teens to take these kinds of jobs and stay on throughout the summer season. And in the blink of an eye, these same employers have more applications than they can shake a stuffed animal at.

But even amidst increased application flow and reduced turnover, the labor problem for seasonal employers is far from over. You must now wade through the cotton candy to find and select the right talent for each job making every attempt to staff front liners who really want to be on your team and will reflect their delight when interfacing with your customers. And that’s no easy task in a year when the employment line could end up being longer than the line to ride the roller coaster.

Note - The April edition of Whys News addresses this very issue.

Today the Denver Post reported that Dina Christoffersen, a 13-year-old-girl from Cheyenne, Wyoming managed to rack up a $4,750 dollar bill on her family’s cell phone plan by sending 20,000 text messages in one month. Her families cell plan, incidentally, was one that did not include text messaging. Over this same time, this young student’s grades had dropped from A’s to F’s. Angered by the sudden realization that his Verizon bill was outrageous and his daughter’s grades were plummeting faster than the Dow after a banking scandal, Dina’s dad took a hammer to her phone.

As I pointed out in the feature article of the March edition of Whys News, employers need to have a strategy in place to deal with workplace distractions. Obviously, text messaging is a proven distraction among the under-25 cohort.  But even if your employees aren’t sending 20,000 texts a month, you still may want to keep a spare hammer in your top drawer.

Forget that her parents were remiss for not clearly establishing the rules before handing Dina a ‘credit card and a grade demolisher in-one’ shaped like a cell phone. Let’s look at the broader issue. How many texts did Dena send to her friends that were in the same class and the same time, when she could have simply whispered to them or passed them a note? It wouldn’t be all that surprising if she texted her best friend while on the school bus sitting next to her in the same seat.  The fact of the matter is, Gen Whys digest information and communicate in a way that’s radically different than you and I do.

In one month, Dina proved 20,000 times that she prefers extremely short, casual ‘thought blasts’ to lengthy, formal conversations that are laced with do’s and don’t and are sometimes difficult and awkward to escape.

This doesn’t mean you need to abandon your face-to-face conversations with young employees.  However, it should leave with you two clear action steps.

First, be sure to establish and effectively communicate clear rules for texting—and all similar types of distractions—in your work environment. Don’t do a classic “Mr. Christoffersen” and decide to leave the personal use of cell phones, iPods, laptops, etc. up to the discretion of your young employees. Their interpretation of ‘use only in emergency situations’ could be very different from yours.

Most importantly, when it comes to communicating, think small. Don’t waste your time typing up a six-page email extolling the importance of customer service. Instead send a text message like “Smile guys!” or “Don’t 4get to say thanx!” Practice communicating in short, relevant informative bursts, rather than long, drawn-out information dumps. Remember that when it comes to breaking through to your younger employees with a message you need to stick, less is always more.

Inspite of what you might think, this really isn’t about football, or even sports, okay?

Being a Colorado native, I bleed Denver Bronco blue and orange.  That means it’s been impossible for me to ignore the recent Jay Cutler (the team’s 25-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback) debacle that has grabbed all the national sports headlines of the past 48 hours. Now, my unlimited hopes for the Broncos aside, as I watched this drama unfold I sensed an outcome that we’re all too familiar with. We were seeing yet another high-maintenance (albeit high performing) Gen Y come into direct conflict with management and boldly call them out in a public duel.

I won’t make any secret of it: I think that Jay Cutler’s behavior in this whole thing has been, at the very least, immature, and at the most, inexcusable. He is under contract to play quarterback for the Denver Broncos, and although the team’s management is not without fault, they haven’t done anything to violate the terms of the contract. Cutler’s childish reaction to the mere thought he could be traded to another team has done nothing but damage to the team. So when I heard that he had been traded, I was thrilled. In my opinion, it’s addition by subtraction. No team and/or business needs cancer in the locker room.

So even if you’e not in the football business, or even a fan of the game, let’s use this story to openly debate the proper response to a question you have dealt with, or you will eventually have to deal with.

When is it time to part with a star performer?

Let’s say we’re talking about an employee that is a consistently great performer for you; maybe even your best. But her attitude is terrible. She doesn’t like you or the way you run things, consistently complains about being dealt a bad hand, and has become a virus in your break room.

How do you decide if, and when, to cut bait? I suggest you evaluate the situation using three criteria:

1. Is she a leader?
If she’s a strong performer, odds are that she has a significant influence on other employees that impacts their performance. If you discover that her attitude has rubbed off on your other performers and they are not performing up to their potential, you need to make a move. If her bad attitude is directed only at you and your other workers seem to be unaware or unaffected, then there still might be time to right the ship if you address the situation immediately.

2. Is she communicating her discontent appropriately?
Anyone can have a bad day, or even a bad week. But that’s no excuse to cut the lines of communication.  Jay Cutler stopped talking to his coaches, wouldn’t take their calls, and wouldn’t even talk to the team’s owner whose signature was on his embarrassingly large paychecks. (God only knows what Cutler was saying to his teammates.)

If you have a difficult employee, determine whether he is discussing his issues with you in confidence, or if he is airing his grievances with co-workers and, even worse, your customers. This is a clear indication if your situation is salvageable.

3. Is she open to resolution?
Despite the fact that Jay Cutler was airing his problems inappropriately and serving as a poor example for his teammates, there could have been reconciliation with the Broncos if he had been willing to swallow his pride and show up for a meeting. When he refused to take calls, management had to flex it’s muscle of face the loss of respect from the balance of the team.

If your high-maintenance employees are willing to work with you to resolve problems, work with them. Even if the first step is to set the stage for how the process of resolving the conflict should work.  Because they are rare, it’s never a good idea to part with a high performer, especially when she’s willing to try to improve. However, if the problem has grown beyond your control, accept that fact and then take action that is quick, decisive, and final.

Bye bye, Jay.  Thanks for the memories.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off by commenting below!

I picked up a copy of a newly released book titled The Cult of the Customer by Shep Hyken on the advice of a really good friend who always tips me off to really good books. It had been a while since I read a book on service, so I was wondering if there was anything new or unique on this overdone topic, and if so, if the concepts were applicable to coaching young employees to deliver outstanding service.

I can’t say the strategies for creating a culture of great service in this book are revolutionary, but the simplicity and clarity of how they are delivered and reinforced is noteworthy. Using the power of story, metaphor, humor, and a wealth of well-researched case examples, Hyken points out how to design a strategy that leads both customers and employees through five distinct cultural phases from uncertainty to Amazement.

Here are three key points made in this book that are crucial for anyone who employs 16-to-24-year-olds to interface with customers:

1.  Treat employees like you want the customer treated; maybe even better.  Service starts at the top. Let your interaction with your staff be the example of the behavior you want your front line employees to provide for your customers.

2. Recognize that a satisfied customer, or a satisfied employee, is not necessarily loyal to you or your brand.  A big mistake many organizations make is thinking that a satisfied customer and a satisfied employee is an acceptable objective. Satisfactory is a rating, and an average rating at that.  Loyalty, however, is a bond; an emotional commitment that a customer — and an employee — gets from consistent positive experiences. The lesson is to focus on doing what it takes to go beyond satisfying your customers and your employees. Aim to be so good that people inside and outside of your business have no choice but to become loyal.

3. Understand that all of your advertising and marketing dollars don’t mean anything if an employee doesn’t treat the customer in a way that is consistent with your brand promise. When the primary interface with your customer is under the age of 25 and struggling to survive a recession, employee morale is more important than ever.  When you are able to move your employees beyond being ’satisfied’ to being amazed, they respond by delivering on your brand promise and will create an amazing experience for your customer.

There’s a lot of meat to be digested in The Cult of the Customer: Create an Amazing Customer Experience That Turns Satisfied Customers into Customer Evangelists. I rarely recommend books, but this is a good read and is well worth your time.

My daughter’s husband, Chris, is nearing the end of his first year of law school at Pepperdine University in Malibu and is looking for a summer internship that will impress prospective law firms upon his graduation in 2011. Chris accepts the fact that if he’s lucky enough to find work with a judge or in a law firm, he’ll have to work long days and that he won’t be paid a nickle, but he’s hoping he can find the right internship on his own accord. He certainly can’t afford to pay anyone to find him an job where he’ll have to work for free, but there are people out there who do that, you know.

The University of Dreams is one of several intern placement services that are now available to students who are willing to ante-up big bucks to have someone else find a summer internship for them. While not all of the internships are unpaid, many are, and some universities also charge students a semester of tuition if the student wants academic credit for the experience.

Wow. Imagine writing one check to the University, an another to a placement service, all for a chance to work for just the sake of having some relevant experience to put on your resume.

Is it wonder why today’s college grads are entering their first career positions owing tens–or even hundreds–of thousands of dollars in loan payments before they get their first paycheck?