In bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, "the good-to-great companies continually refined path to greatness with brutal facts of reality."

And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of his time on people: recruiting new talent, picking right people for particular positions, grooming young stars, developing managers, dealing with under performers, and reviewing entire talent pool.

Says Welch, "Having most talented people in each of our businesses is most important thing. If we don’t, we lose."

Why is it that many of us put off giving feedback to our employees even though we intuitively know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential to grow and develop and to build successful organizations? Maybe it is because there are so many ways to screw it up.

Here are ten common feedback mistakes:

1.Speaking out only when things are wrong. "Praise to a human being represents what sunlight, water and soil are to a plant - climate in which one grows best." - Earl Nightingale

2."Drive-by" praise without specifics or an honest underpinning. - "Great job!"

3.Waiting until performance or behavior is substantially below expectations before acting on it.

4.Giving positive or negative feedback long after event has occurred.

5.Not taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and reactions. "This comes straight from boss."

6.Giving feedback through e-mail messages, notes, or over telephone.

7.Giving negative feedback in public.

8.Criticizing performance without giving suggestions for improvement.

9.No follow up afterwards.

10.Not having regularly scheduled performance review meetings.

This November marks my two-year anniversary of starting my own human resources consulting business. As I look back on years, I am amazed at what I accomplished and learned. If you are thinking about starting a business, read on!

I always dreamed about having my own business, talked to friends about it, and imagined how it might be. But it was only after two people in my life gave me a push, that I started doing instead of dreaming. First, my former boss said to me, when we were both thinking about moving on, "I never looked for a job, I always went out and created my own." Given her advice, I hired a business coach to help me map out my next career steps. My coach saw my entrepreneurial spirit and encouraged me to start a business. So I moved from dreaming to doing.

The first few months of my business I spent setting up a legal structure, registering business name, implementing an easy accounting system, setting up a business checking account, establishing a line of credit and obtaining business insurance. Each item was time consuming but not difficult. The more difficult work was writing my business plan and marketing plan. I talked to professional colleagues and volunteers at Small Business Administration and SCORE, and read books on marketing. The process was slow because I was learning along way, but I now use both business and marketing plans as daily road maps to guide my actions. One of easier and fun parts of first few months – for me, was working with a designer to create a logo, business cards, stationery, brochure and Web site.

I also started networking - an activity that never ceases. There are many organizations to join. The trick is figuring out which ones to choose. I finally decided on being involved with a half a dozen organizations, which can either bring me business or help me learn more about building my business or both.