The five essential aspects of effective feedback in performance management

Last week we started discussing the topic of performance management and its impact on companies’ bottom-line and highlighted feedback as a key element of effective performance management. Effective feedback is what oils the communication engine, so, today, we shall take a closer look at five aspects of effective feedback, namely, specific, relevant, credible, timely and frequent.

Feedback can either build employee morale and improve employee engagement or it can do the opposite. When employees are constantly bombarded with unreliable feedback, it has an adverse impact on their morale and affects their engagement. An example of such is when managers consistently confront employees with hearsay, things that have not been substantiated or cannot be substantiated.

Before feedback is given to an employee, especially feedback relating to an alleged behaviour or action, efforts should be made to validate the accusation. The approach should be a fact-finding mission. Some managers are in the habit of determining disciplinary actions based on only one side of a story. By law, the employee should be given an opportunity to defend the allegations unless it is of such a serious nature that the employer cannot permit a conversation with the employee.

Effective feedback should be time sensitive. Whether it is feedback to commend or to reprimand, as much as is reasonable, do it in real time, or as close as possible to when the event occurred. Your effort will be more impactful if you praise an employee for going above and beyond yesterday than for going above and beyond did last month. Similarly, avoid reprimanding an employee for something they did last month. Quite often employees are caught off guard when reference is made of a violation that occurred weeks, prior. In some cases, they weren’t even aware that they committed the breach.

Some of you may recall a parent who practised delayed punishment. Your mom or dad waited for the straw that broke the camel’s back, then you were punished for passing the neighbour without saying good morning; for taking the quarter that was not given to you; for getting home from school late, etc.

As managers, our feedback should be relevant. Do not rehash past violations. Address only what is relevant to the present situation. One of the biggest mistakes managers make in trying to avoid the discomfort of direct one-on-one conversations is general feedback. When general feedback is given, it does not always meet the objective of the conversation.

For example, Tom is frequently late for work. However, instead of addressing Tom’s unpunctuality, the manager sends out an email correspondence to the general staff body hoping that Tom will get the message. It is likely that Tom may think that the message was directed to another employee.

When addressing an employee unpunctuality, best practice is to have a direct conversation with the offender, refer to the dates when he has been late, and the times recorded. Find out if there are personal challenges that are impacting his ability to be early. If he does have personal challenges and you can assist with more flexible working hours, please do. Stress the importance of him getting to work on time, state consequence for repeat offences, set a date to reevaluate the corrective measures agreed on and follow up as promised.

Finally, effective feedback should be done frequently. In an article titled “Continuous Feedback: What Is It and Its Benefits”. Author Kylee Stone states that “Regular and timely feedback helps in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of employees and provides them with the opportunity to improve their performance”. This systematic approach creates feedback culture in the organization.

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