I have talked a lot about the importance of alignment in my past newsletters and blog posts and how alignment creates focus, clarity, and accountability. But, the glue that holds alignment together throughout the year is...feedback.

One of the quickest ways to crush an employee's morale is by surprising her with feedback during the annual review that she never received during the performance year. I see this over and over and over again.

Difficult conversations are difficult because they are uncomfortable for most people. But, there are techniques that you can learn to provide feedback in a way that will help an employee improve without coming across as marginalizing.