www.peerprompt.com

The Power Of Peer Feedback

As organizations and groups grow in complexity, level two cultures of “Acquiesce” or informed acceptance require systems to transmit information in an efficient and organized manner. Research has shown that the majority of organizations around the world have “Acquiesce” or “Carrots & Sticks” Cultural Mindsets. These companies go to unusual measures to share necessary information. Group members are well trained and can freely access the rules of conduct, but management keeps tight controls on other types of information and releases it on a need to know basis. The power of peer feedback is strategic to sustaining a high performing organizational culture.

Rob Peters
Aug 22, 2017 · 5 min read

The Benefits of Peer Feedback

“Professionally given and received, peer feedback has numerous benefits. First of all, it is useful for the feedback receiver: He or She:

  • feels respected and acknowledged,
  • learns more about how others respond to her strengths and talents,
  • learns more about questionable aspects of his or her behavior,
  • gets fresh impulses for further development,
  • feels motivated to change for the better.

Secondly, peer feedback has a positive impact on the whole team: it

  • makes various experiences explicit,
  • intensifies collaboration and teamwork,
  • encourages the willingness to hold each other accountable,
  • clarifies diverse points of view,
  • build trust in each other.

Last but not least, peer feedback is of value for the whole organization. It

  • connects individual behavior, team dynamics and overall performance,
  • helps to make more sense of any data,
  • builds important skills,
  • encourages specific actions,
  • drives continuous improvement on many levels”

Do The Right Thing Cultures require transparency to flourish. If these autonomous or self-governing cultures of individuals inspired by purpose and core values are to keep their commitments, they must have free and unrestricted access to the information they need to make sensible decisions.

Peer SaaS Feedback

An example of a Do The Right Thing Community is Valve Corporation

Founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington as a gaming company, adapted and diversified into an entertainment, software, and technology. In addition to creating several of the world’s most award-winning games, Valve is also a developer of leading-edge technologies including the Source® game engine and Steam®, the premier online gaming platform.

The company has a reputation for creating a dynamic culture like no other. Before it started creating games, it decided to design a culture of greatness.

The Handbook for New Employees provides simple straightforward knowledge on getting started. Valve did not want hierarchy and top-down control for predictability or repeatability. It wants innovation; that is why they spend so much time seeking the most “intelligent”, innovative”, and talented people on earth”. Sustaining an environment where they will “flourish”. Telling them to sit at a desk and do what they are told destroys 99% of their value. They have a founder/president, but nobody reports to anyone at Valve.

Employees pick their own projects. That is the hardest part of the job. No one tells you what to do. The percentage of self-directed projects is 100%. If you are good at what you do, you will be busy. Individuals tend to gravitate toward projects that have high measurable, and predictable returns. Just like they were the CEO of their company.

How does a Valve Employee decide what to work on?

The same way they make other decision; by waiting for someone to decide that it’s the right thing to do, and then letting them recruit other people to work on it with them. But rather than just trusting each other to just be smart, they constantly test their own decisions. Accepted views of sales, marketing, seasonality, regionality, the Internet, purchasing behavior, game design, economics, and recruiting, etc. have been proven wrong.

How to get started on Project X at Valve?

All you have to do is either (1) Start working on it, or (2) Start talking to all the people who you think might be working on it already and find out how to best be valuable.

Introducing Peer SaaS — “Smart Leaderboard”

Peers and Performance Feedback:

There are two formal methods for evaluating performance at Valve:

  1. Peer Reviews — There is a framework by which Valve gives feedback to each other. A set of people (this set changes each time) interviews everyone in the company, asking who each person has worked with since the last round of peer reviews and how the experience of working with each person was. The purpose of the feedback is to provide people with information that will support their growth. The highest quality feedback is directive and prescriptive; designed to be put to use by the person you’re talking about. The feedback is gathered, collated, anonymized, and delivered to each reviewee.
  2. Stack Ranking (and compensation) — Valve ranks each other against their peers. Stack ranking is in order gain insight into who is providing the most value to the company. Valve has high profitability per employee than Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. A core belief is to do the right thing by putting the maximum amount of money back into the pockets of the employees. The flat organizational structure of Valve eliminates some of the bias that would show up in a peer-ranking system in other firms.

Conclusion

74 percent of executives selected digital HR as their number one priority, and it will likely remain this way for the next few years. The trend is moving rapidly: 42 percent of companies are adapting their existing HR systems for mobile, device delivered, just-in-time learning; 59 percent are developing mobile apps that integrate back office systems for ease of use by employees; and 51 percent are leveraging external social networks in their own internal apps for recruitment and employee profile management. We at the Standard of Trust launched PE-ER aimed at elevating engagement, performance, and recognition to your most important asset, your people. Hope you will give it a try. The power of peer feedback has many benefits for the worker and the business.

www.StandardofTrust.com

Sources:

http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Trust-Leadership-Transforming-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00IK1T6Z6

https://www.infoq.com/articles/peer-feedback-loops-2?utm_campaign=infoq_content&utm_source=infoq&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=global

Originally Published on March 3rd, 2016 on Linkedin Pulse

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Rob Peters

Written by

Relationship Capital | Gamification | Co-Creator of Peer SaaS Platform | HR Tech and Workplace Culture Strategist | CEO| Author of Standard of Trust Leadership

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