Enhancing Managerial Feedback: The Ten Penny Challenge

Question: We have an account manager who excels in her role but tends to be overly critical with her direct reports, lacking in support for their development. Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

Answer: It's common to prioritize corrective feedback, but neglect positive reinforcement, which is equally crucial. One effective technique is the Ten Penny Challenge. Ask your manager to put 10 pennies in her right-hand pocket. Tell her that her job is to give her direct reports positive feedback.  Each time she does so, she places one penny from her right-hand pocket into her left pocket.  Tell her that at the end of each day, it is your expectation that she will have worked all of the 10 pennies from her right pocket into her left one, thereby forcing her to focus on giving positive, supportive, and effective feedback to her employees.  You may want to start out with just five pennies if she’s not in practice to give positive feedback.  But if she’s a true manager and managing people is her core responsibility, then working through 10 pennies a day should be her primary objective each day!