Feedback: Why, What, and How

Why Is Feedback Important?

Feedback started as a term used to describe the signals sent from a rocket back to earth in order to determine the accuracy of the rocket's course. By tracking speed and trajectory, ground crews could determine when and where to make corrections.

At some point in time, the term Feedback was incorporated into business language as a way to talk about performance. And, as in rocket flight, it has been determined that the best way for a person to stay "on course" is to assess where one stands at any given moment in relation to the task or goal at hand.

Here's the really important point: The chances of impacting performance increase with frequency and timeliness of feedback. That implies the need for ongoing "How are we doing?" conversations. It's our best chance at knowing whether we're on track or not.

What Gets In The Way of Giving Feedback?

1. Let's face it: few of us enjoy hearing about those areas of work life where we're coming up short. It's human nature. The flip side is that managers are people, too, and they have the same thoughts and feelings. So it's not exactly a peak experience being the proverbial "messenger" even though it comes with the job.

2. The term "feedback" has morphed into "Here's what you need to correct" instead of "Here's how I think we're doing."

3. Feedback has been institutionalized to the point where it is often done at yearly or semi-annual performance reviews. That's usually too far away from the actual performance for a person to make the kind of changes that will alter an outcome. So it's almost like a "Gotcha!"

4. It takes a relationship built on trust to have meaningful conversations about performance.

Trust comes from a series of interactions where people have made agreements, talked about how things were going, and then lived up to what they said they would do. And if something goes wrong, one person points that out to the other. They talk about what to do differently. And they learn that, even if something does go wrong, they care enough to bring it up and do something about it. I've said this before: The people you trust the most are the people who tell you the truth--good and bad. If it's good, they offer encouragement. If it's bad, they offer ways to work with you to sort things out.

5. Lack of ongoing, natural conversation about work life gets in the way of building relationships that breed the level of trust we need to have ongoing, natural conversations. It's circular.

What Can You Do About This?

1. Managers: Start the conversation from Day 1.

Set the tone for the future early on by asking, "How are things going with project x?" What didn't we anticipate? What's going well? What isn't going well, so we can find out how to get it on track?

Then make sure that both of you do what you say you'll do.

2. Employees: If there isn't a conversation, start one. Turn the questions in #1 into statements. For example, "Here's how project x is going." "Here's what we didn't anticipate."

Sure, maybe your boss doesn't like bad news. Here's a secret: Surprises are worse than bad news.

If you start the conversation, you have a better chance of putting your boss at ease with the whole idea of "How are we doing?"

3. Keep talking about having conversations, not feedback.

Language conveys feeling. The whole notion of feedback has degenerated to the point where the word contains more negative connotations than positive. Why? Maybe because it was never meant to be associated with the human condition in the first place.

From the time we're kids we have conversations. We talk about "What's going on" and "How are things going?"

Start having ongoing "How are we doing?" conversations. Start now.

I absolutely guarantee you that two people of goodwill can increase their combined performance and reduce their stress-inducing baggage by having regular, honest talks about their progress and the factors impacting it. These kinds of talks are the foundation of every good relationship, on and off the job.

Bonus Thought: The longer you wait, the larger the "negative" becomes and the more difficult it is to discuss. Regular, frequent conversations mean that the problem areas will be smaller and easier to talk about!

Comments

[360 Degree Feedback]

Hi Steve,

Some food for thought there.

Your readers may be interested in finding out more about about 360 Degree Feedback. I would recommend visiting our website at Track Surveys and downloading some of the documents. We have a range of free guides about both providing and setting up 360 degree feedback within organisations as well as some fascinating podcasts about recent case studies.

Steve

[Nathaniel]

Great post, you're bang on. This is a great break down of the value of feedback. Feedback engages, motivates, and is crucial for improvement and development. You're absolutely right about ongoing conversations. There is nothing more valuable in terms of alignment and even job satisfaction, as regular one on one conversations between manager and employee. I'd love to follow up with you via email and get your thoughts/feedback on what we're up to. Interesting, I didn't realize that the term feedback came about that way. cool.

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Terrific post and agreed with Nathaniel's comment above as well. The research very clearly supports this as well -- employees desperately want to know how they are doing. The LEAST engaged employees are those who receive no feedback, positive are negative. The most engaged, of course, are those whose bosses manage through employee strengths. The Gallup research on this is available through this post: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/11/strengths-weaknesses-ignored-how-are.html

[Steve Roesler]

Hello, Nathaniel,

Pleased that this struck a chord with you. I'm traveling and speaking through 29 Jan but would be pleased to email with you. Click the link under my photo in the upper right and I'll receive it.

[Steve Roesler]

Derek, I'm sure folks will find the resource useful.

[360 degree feedback]

The 360 degree Feedback engages, motivates, and is crucial for improvement and development.It is a powerful source which is as part of a development method for workers and also takes a relationship built on trust to have meaningful conversations about performance 360 degree feedback.