Many managers rely on performance feedback as an invaluable way of providing insight into employees’ strengths and weaknesses, but researchers have noted that discussions surrounding performance often widen causal attribution disagreement, leading recipients of feedback to take more credit for their successes than take responsibility for any missteps they might be responsible for.
Effective performance feedback must be forward-focused and timely in its delivery.
Effective Communication
Communication is key for an organization’s success, serving as the way in which employees convey information to one another. Communication includes both verbal and nonverbal activities as well as listening and interpreting messages, making employee performance and engagement critical components. Effective communication helps employees understand their roles and responsibilities within an organization as well as clear instructions and guidance from management.
Employees who communicate effectively with their managers and team members gain a clearer understanding of their goals and expectations for their jobs, which allows them to make better informed decisions and reduces risks in their work. Furthermore, strong communications foster teamwork between managers and employees and establish trust between the two parties.
Development of an environment of communication begins with managers. Reading feedback forms or Slack messages is just the start – managers should listen to what their employees have to say and act upon what they hear if necessary; for instance if one of your team members needs assistance they could hold one-on-one meetings to offer additional assistance or hold one-off sessions to address individual concerns.
Feedback should be delivered promptly and using various forms. This includes formal performance reviews, individual meetings with managers and team members, written feedback forms, informal chats during lunch or coffee breaks and informal interactions at lunch or coffee breaks. Managers must prioritize constructive, positive-framed feedback that doesn’t feel like personal attack.
Grammarly estimates that ineffective workplace communication costs U.S. businesses $1.2 trillion each year, yet with just a few simple steps it can be significantly improved. To improve your own communication skills, try practicing active listening, soliciting feedback regularly, being courteous during disagreements and always treating others with respect – even during disagreements! Whenever possible, face-to-face meetings should also take place as they provide an invaluable way of conveying messages, while at the same time giving you insight into team member reactions and whether your tone of feedback is effective or not – ultimately leading to greater understanding while motivating them all to move forward!
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness, an indispensable meta-skill for workplace success, lies at its core in being aware of oneself through actions and emotions. While an IQ score can be measured, self-awareness is an inborn trait; research indicates that more self-aware individuals tend to demonstrate emotional intelligence (EI).
Self-aware leaders recognize both their talents and limitations, using both to achieve organizational goals. They possess a clear vision of what they aim to accomplish while working smarter, not harder. Furthermore, these leaders possess humility that makes them an exceptional leader – listening attentively to others while delegating tasks outside their expertise.
An self-aware team can efficiently address conflicts and embrace empathy, leading to stronger decisions and increased employee engagement. According to research by Harvard Business Review, self-aware teams may be twice as effective than those lacking self-awareness.
Self-awareness takes effort, time and dedication – but the rewards can be immense for individuals and organizations. One effective approach is asking trusted individuals for feedback about your experience working together or the effect you had on them – then listening carefully without judgment as their responses arrive in order to understand what their words mean.
Once you’ve compiled feedback, take some time to reflect. In this period, identify aspects of your personality or behavior which need improvement and determine ways to change those traits to create an action plan for improving them. Commit to carrying out this plan gradually over time.
Socrates once said: ‘Know yourself is liberating; knowing others is enlightening.’ This timeless wisdom applies directly to the workplace: self-awareness should be fostered among employees by L&D professionals by providing tools and training. As a result, employees will become better in tune with themselves and those around them while remaining more resilient during times of disruptions.
Goal Setting
Goal setting is one of the cornerstones of performance management. Not only does it inform feedback conversations about employee performances, but also helps employees stay challenged and motivated with clear direction on where they need to focus their work toward growing skillsets or attaining new successes. Goal setting plays a central role in moving away from traditional performance reviews towards one that emphasizes growth potential over transactional goals.
As you set goals for your team, it is advisable to hold regular meetings with individual reports. By checking in with them about what their personal goals are and asking what their progress has been so far, managers can ensure their employees’ goals are SMART and align with company-wide objectives and business priorities; plus they give managers an opportunity to identify any skillset gaps among employees that they might help close with support from managers.
An additional advantage to frequent goal discussions throughout the year is that employees have a constant source of data they can use to measure their performance and progress, enabling them to quickly correct if necessary, avoiding frustration due to delays in receiving constructive feedback on overall performance.
Goal-setting processes that deliver optimal results rely on both outcome and process feedback for their employees to effectively set and achieve short-term goals. Employees need to know both how well they’re performing against short-term goals (outcome feedback) as well as what has been accomplished and learned (process feedback). This information helps close what many researchers refer to as the value-action paradox.
Establishing transparent goal setting opportunities on an ongoing basis creates an atmosphere in which employees feel free to discuss professional development needs in an open forum. Doing this allows a full picture of an employee’s capabilities and potential, helping ensure they can fully participate in their job and the long-term success of the company. Many companies are shifting away from traditional performance reviews in favor of approaches like Adobe’s which provides ongoing performance enablement with bimonthly check-ins for employees.
Collaboration
Feedback delivery can make all the difference for an employee’s performance and the success of an enterprise. When presented in an encouraging and constructive manner, people tend to heed its advice more readily while when criticism only addresses negative aspects without providing solutions it often falls on deaf ears. A continuous process of providing feedback allows employees to improve their performance which ultimately helps companies meet their goals more easily.
Feedback comes in various forms from managers and supervisors, measurement systems and peers alike. Formal or informal advice from these sources should focus on specific, timely, relevant observations relevant to the job at hand and constructive criticism that is respectful yet impartial in tone and delivery.
Example: An employee receiving feedback that his word choices during customer conversations are negatively affecting customers may receive suggestions on how he could better interact with them – helping him meet a company goal of keeping more customers satisfied.
Feedback that occurs less formally and naturally is also essential in performance management systems, but can take many forms. For instance, when materials handlers are assigned the task of moving 10 stacks of supplies across from one side of a warehouse to the other before noon it becomes easy for all involved to assess individual performances against team goals compared with this self-evident feedback that provides information that can help tailor training programs specifically designed to each team or individual member.
At an organization, collecting feedback and integrating it into its learning process requires a cultural shift. This involves providing employees with a central location where they can leave casual feedback, as well as emphasizing its significance and showing managers how to use it effectively. Companies like Google and GE have successfully built such collaboration into their performance review processes.
Key to effective performance management strategies is creating two-way dialogue with employees that allows them to express their problems, fears, and challenges safely. While this may prove challenging for managers, they can overcome it by learning key lessons from research about what makes feedback effective versus what prevents its beneficial use.
