How to give and receive Performance Feedback
PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK.
The yearly rigmarole companies go through around “appraisal time” (…typically, March / April…).
The annual ritual of awkward interactions between team members, team leaders and the dreaded “HR”.
Discussions where those humble numbers “1, 2, 3, 4 and 5” gain importance of life altering proportions.
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How many times have we come across someone who was unhappy with the way his / her performance feedback was handled?
How many people have we met who were disgruntled with their performance evaluation and subsequent appraisal, which depended on it?
Probably a lot.
Performance feedback is the key to any professional’s evolution. Which means, it is the key to any organisation’s evolution & success. Therefore, performance feedback is amongst the most important exercises that professionals in an organisation can undertake.
So, how can we become better at this exercise?
This article will put forth some suggestions on how to give and receive performance feedback constructively so that it helps individuals, teams and organisations progress in the right direction.
At Technogise, we follow these guidelines to foster an open culture which helps us grow in the right way.
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Structure of a Performance Feedback:
Before we give our colleague his / her performance feedback, let us form a basic structure of performance feedback.
The basic, bare bones structure of a performance feedback could look like this:
Now that a basic structure is in place, let us also set a ground rule for feedback.
Ground rule for feedback:
Feedback should be given, and received, without any bias whatsoever. We must eliminate / ignore all our pre-conceived notions about a person before objectively evaluating their performance.
Now, let us look at how we can give feedback.
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Things to keep in mind while GIVING feedback:
1.) Give SPECIFIC EXAMPLES, always
Specific examples give validity & justification to the feedback we give. Here are a few examples:
Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
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2.) Be FRANK and HONEST
We should never hesitate or dilly-dally in sharing any valid critical feedback with a colleague. We are only helping them.
The reason why we hesitate in sharing critical feedback with our colleagues is that we feel it might hurt them, demoralize them, or impact their appraisal. As a result, we often sugarcoat critical feedback or, just do not share it altogether. Even if it means that their mistakes start impacting our own performance. It’s human nature, I guess.
But the cost of sugarcoated feedback (or “selectively edited” feedback) is that the receivers don’t realize if, or where, or how much they need to improve. They continue making the same mistakes over time until the organization starts considering them a liability, and often, lets them go.
In our fear of impacting our colleague’s appraisal, we end up doing much worse; impacting his employment.
However, we must always remember to criticize the behaviour, not the person.
Here is an example:
…and here’s a Dilbert strip… :-)
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3.) Be CONSTRUCTIVE
Our feedback must help our colleagues, not demoralize them. Provide encouragement and suggest improvements wherever needed. Here are a couple of examples where harsh and defeatist feedback can be evolved to have a constructive tone:
Example 1:
Example 2:
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4.) Give it TIMELY
Feedback can be acted upon meaningfully, only if it is given on time. What’s the point of letting someone know that their skills need improvement, many months after you’ve realised so? Would we be happy if we are informed of our performance concerns a year late?
Let us not wait for a month to give constructive feedback to someone, when we can do it today.
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5.) Give it FREQUENTLY
I firmly believe that teams must have frequent performance feedback sessions amongst themselves. NOT once a year, when appraisals are due.
A good frequency (or follow-up cycle) enables the feedback receiver to keep track of his / her progress, and make necessary course corrections in time.
Retrospectives in Agile project teams are a good example of this. A retro (routinely conducted after every month, or sometimes every sprint) benefits teams by enabling them to review their learnings from previous sprints and accordingly optimize their course for future sprints.
Similarly, feedback sessions conducted & recorded frequently can benefit teams immensely.
What’s the ideal frequency? Well, it depends on multiple factors like the nature of work / business the team is in, the size of the team, whether it’s colocated or distributed etc.
At Technogise, we aim for performance feedback sessions every 2 to 3 months.
Even appraisals can be done more scientifically this way. It will be easier for the “salary decision makers” to review how an individual’s performance has progressed iteratively over the course of his / her appraisal cycle; how he / she has responded to each of the multiple feedbacks during the year.
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6.) WRITE it down
Writing down helps give structure to the feedback we share. Verbal conversations on the other hand, can digress into irrelevance.
Also, while writing, we tend to recollect some points we may miss out on if the feedback is only verbal.
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7.) ATTUNE it to the receiver
Stating the obvious, not all people are the same.
Some could be more sensitive and therefore, need to be given honest feedback with more courteousness.
On the other hand, some are more open minded towards criticism and therefore, can be given feedback more informally.
It’s tricky, I know… :-)
Now let’s get onto receiving feedback.
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Things to keep in mind while RECEIVING feedback:
1.) Take it from EVERYONE you’ve worked with
Consider, for example, that you are a software developer in a project team. Should you take your performance feedback only from your project team?
How about the clients that you speak with / consult everyday. Wouldn’t their direct feedback help shape your consulting skills?
How about the recruiters you engage with regularly during recruitment drives? Wouldn’t their feedback help you improve your interviewing skills? How about the people managers you regularly bring your grievances to? Wouldn’t their direct feedback help shape your growth as a professional?
We must take feedback from everyone we directly work with, on a regular basis. Only then will we grow holistically as a professional.
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2.) Be OPEN MINDED and willing to ACT upon feedback
We have to accept that people will have valid negative perceptions about us. There will always be valid areas of improvement in our performance, pointed out by our colleagues.
We must embrace this constructive feedback. Not take it as an attack on our ego. And definitely not dismiss it as “haters’ gonna hate” ! :-)
As a matter of fact…
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3.) Proactively ask for improvement suggestions
These will only help us evolve as a professional.
Side note: At the same time, we occasionally need to take some of the feedback (both positive and negative) with a pinch of salt. Occasionally, a teammate could give you an unwarranted “bad” review just because he holds a grudge. Or a teammate could give you a “flowery” review, because he wants a good review / appraisal in return. We should learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I know I’m contradicting the Ground Rule for Feedback (mentioned earlier) with this side note, but it is my pragmatic opinion borne out of experience.
It’s tricky, I know… :-)
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4.) Take it FREQUENTLY
We must seek performance feedback frequently. A good frequency will help us understand how we are growing professionally. It will give us a quick understanding of where we need to improve and allow us enough time to course-correct. This way, there will be less surprises for us a year down the line… :-)
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4.) Take it in WRITING
We won’t remember verbal feedback for long. We need recorded feedback we can refer to, to track our progress.
We should either take notes while receiving verbal feedback, or ask for written feedback.
But at the same time…
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5.) Always have a CONVERSATION
Because written feedback often needs an accompanying conversation to explain the context around certain points.
As a feedback receiver, I might not be able to understand a few points in my feedback unless they are explained to me by the provider in a focused conversation.
Tip: Chats over coffee tend to be less awkward and more heartfelt.
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In a nutshell:
Feedback is a culture; not a formality. Let us embrace it.
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If you’ve patiently read this article so far, I request you to kindly share your valuable feedback on it.
If you have more views, or different views on this topic, please share them on this forum. Or you could mail me at mayank@technogise.com.
Also, if you find this article useful, feel free to share it in your network.
Disclaimer: The pictures in this blog are PPT slides I prepared and used for a discussion at Technogise.
