| Performance Management Cycle |
| Topic 3. On-Going Communication and Feedback |
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Four Focus Areas in Depth |
Focus Area 3: Encourage Feedback on Performance
Feedback
Feedback stimulates effective action. Activities such as goal setting start the process. On-going and regular communication on what you are trying to produce accounts for the ability to achieve desired results.
| Activators
Such as goals or objectives initiate work and account for 15-25% of results. |
Outcomes
Maintaining a focus on outcomes or the end product accounts for 75-85% of results. |
Goals and Objectives
- Clarify responsibilities
- Performance standards
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Feedback
- Positive reinforcement
- Corrective behavior
- Performance conversations
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Challenging goals, combined with on-going feedback specific to those goals, nearly doubles the performance effort of people.
Feedback is a Gift
On giving or receiving feedback...
Assume positive intent and give up your right to be offended.
This alters the tendency to react and respond defensively.
On hearing feedback...
"Thank you for telling me that" followed by "I'd like to set up a time to talk more about it."
This helps to focus on what the other person is saying and allows each to work through any response.
For most, both giving and receiving feedback is difficult. However, effective feedback that enhances individual effectiveness and organizational productivity is a gift. Giving and receiving feedback are expected, yet sometimes neglected, conversations in workplace culture.
Three Types of Feedback
- Positive Feedback
- Immediate and specific
- Share background thinking, feelings or thoughts
- Corrective Reinforcement
- Immediate and specific
- Share background thinking, feelings or thoughts
- Support individual
- No Feedback
- A void is created; no feedback is given
Tips on Using Feedback
- Build in follow-up sessions
- Research on feedback shows that employees who are given feedback, with later discussion of what they have done with the feedback, make significant improvement. On the other hand, those who do not follow up on the feedback make little to no improvement. Therefore, if you supervise and give feedback, build in follow up sessions and have the employee discuss what specific work s/he has done as a result of the feedback given.
- Discuss how it is done.
- At the end of the feedback conversation, particularly constructive feedback, identify and restate any action plan and next steps, who is responsible, and the time frame for acting on them. This will contribute to successful follow up sessions.
- Ask for permission to give feedback.
- If an employee is not prepared to receive feedback, he/she will be defensive when it is given. Consider asking for permission: "I have some feedback I'd like to share with you, are you interested in hearing it?" This can minimize a natural tendency to raise defenses. If the employee says "no," and it's feedback you need to provide as their supervisor, then ask them when would be a good time (provided you can wait). Use the immediate time to create a context for them to hear it.
- Reconnect with the employee
- Following constructive feedback, initiate reconnecting with the employee that same day. Follow up by phone or in person. Reconnect with the employee around something other than the feedback conversation. The quicker you reestablish and model open communication, the more likely the person will be able to re-focus on his/her work. Reconnecting lets the employee know you're committed to their success and minimizes any awkwardness that may result from the constructive feedback conversation.
- Be genuine
- If it is not sincere it will come across as not being genuine.
- Avoid creating a void
- The absence of feedback leads to withdrawal, shutting down of communication, and the perception that person does not care. Without feedback, the person does not know where he/she stands. It creates a void and consistently leads to lower performance.
- Separate behavior from person
- In corrective feedback, the challenge is separating the behavior that needs to be improved from the employee. Be direct and state the behavior that needs to be addressed and reinforce your belief in the employee.
- Avoid the "but" syndrome
- When positive and negative feedback are given in the same conversation, employees often don't hear the positive feedback. They are waiting for the "BUT." "You did a great job on that task, BUT." The solution is to treat these as two distinct conversations with the employee.
- Clarify how you will give constructive feedback
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We all have had past experiences in which constructive feedback was handled poorly. Consider asking your employee how they would like to receive feedback. Basic agreements, such as constructive feedback is to be done in private and as close to the incident as possible, can make a difference for when you actually need to give it.
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Research on feedback shows that employees who are given feedback, with later discussion of what they have done with the feedback, make significant improvement. On the other hand, those who do not follow up on the feedback make little to no improvement. Therefore, if you supervise and give feedback, build in follow up sessions and have the employee discuss what specific work s/he has done as a result of the feedback given.
At the end of the feedback conversation, particularly constructive feedback, identify and restate any action plan and next steps, who is responsible, and the time frame for acting on them. This will contribute to successful follow up sessions.
If an employee is not prepared to receive feedback, he/she will be defensive when it is given. Consider asking for permission: "I have some feedback I'd like to share with you, are you interested in hearing it?" This can minimize a natural tendency to raise defenses. If the employee says "no," and it's feedback you need to provide as their supervisor, then ask them when would be a good time (provided you can wait). Use the immediate time to create a context for them to hear it.
Following constructive feedback, initiate reconnecting with the employee that same day. Follow up by phone or in person. Reconnect with the employee around something other than the feedback conversation. The quicker you reestablish and model open communication, the more likely the person will be able to re-focus on his/her work. Reconnecting lets the employee know you're committed to their success and minimizes any awkwardness that may result from the constructive feedback conversation.
If it is not sincere it will come across as not being genuine.
The absence of feedback leads to withdrawal, shutting down of communication, and the perception that person does not care. Without feedback, the person does not know where he/she stands. It creates a void and consistently leads to lower performance.
In corrective feedback, the challenge is separating the behavior that needs to be improved from the employee. Be direct and state the behavior that needs to be addressed and reinforce your belief in the employee.
When positive and negative feedback are given in the same conversation, employees often don't hear the positive feedback. They are waiting for the "BUT." "You did a great job on that task, BUT." The solution is to treat these as two distinct conversations with the employee.
We all have had past experiences in which constructive feedback was handled poorly. Consider asking your employee how they would like to receive feedback. Basic agreements, such as constructive feedback is to be done in private and as close to the incident as possible, can make a difference for when you actually need to give it.
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