Mmm hmmm....haven't blogged in the past few days....performance management of people is so tough. You tend to look at all the positives and yet the negatives can't be infinitely ignored. Somewhere, feedback has to be given....and no matter how gently or indirectly you say it, it still can be taken wrongly...it's a double-edged sword - damned if you say it and damned if you don't. When you hire someone on the team, you are well aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Do you simply 'tolerate' the weaknesses? Do you talk about it and re-set expectations? In the act of ignoring the weaknesses, you invariably end up disgruntling the ones that are good in those areas. How do you balance this? i guess one needs to be an excellent communicator, use loads of emotional intelligence, and do as objective an evaluation as possible before embarking on the sticky journey of giving feedback.