Performance Feedback: Can We Really Afford to Stink at It?

According to the results of a recent study conducted by Workscape Inc. and the Human Capital Institute (HCI)of 690 HCI members, only 11% of the organizations surveyed subscribe to the practice of providing ongoing performance feedback.  68% of them report that performance management in their organizations equates to a function that occurs only once or twice a year.

With the uncertainty and the speed of change in today's business environment, demanding that organizations be agile and responsive to shifting opportunities and threats, it is hard to imagine many practices more critical than the delivery of regular performance information and feedback.  And yet, apparently, we stink at it.

Clearly the past year has been no performance cake walk at most employers, a time when even holding ground has been a tremendous, even unsurmountable, challenge. It could be that many managers resist having regular performance conversations when there is seemingly little good news to share.  Perhaps they even convince themselves that they are protecting employees.  But evidence suggests that employees want -- even crave -- more feedback from their bosses, even if it is negative.  A recent LeadershipIQ study of 3,611 U.S. and Canadian workers found that 67% say that they get too little positive feedback and 51% say that they get too little constructive criticism from their bosses.

Employees are speaking clearly about their needs; more -- not less -- coaching and feedback during turbulent times.  Our task is supporting and holding managers accountable for delivering it.

Ann Bares is the Editor of Compensation Café,  Author of Compensation Force and Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group LLC, where she provides compensation consulting services to a wide range of client organizations.   She earned her M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and enjoys reading in her spare time.  Follow her on Twitter at @annbares.

Comments

[Becky Regan]

Hi Ann,

It's interesting that so many employees want more feedback in an era of severely limited merit increases, since most people link the two events together. Makes me think that employees truly want to know the things they're doing well, and not so well, so that they can win their manager's approval.

I'm a believer in frequent performance feedback sessions. I think they can provide linkage to the department's and organization's goals. After all, if you don't know what's expected of your, how can you succeed?

Interesting post on unexpected statistics from this study!

Becky

[Paul Hebert]

What a concept - talk to your people. What are we teaching our managers today?

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Great post, Ann. As you point out, the appraisal process is limited by several factors, not least of which are:

1) Because of their infrequency, appraisals are usually a source of anxiety for both the appraiser and the employee.
2) Standard appraisals primarily offer the viewpoint of one person with no real benchmark beyond the immediate team.
3) Appraisals give an imprecise picture of division performance.

Strategic employee recognition solutions dramatically enhance the appraisal process, overcoming these challenges and the needs you cite – the need for feedback and recognition of effort. Strategic recognition encourages peers and managers to frequently and, critically, in a timely way acknowledge efforts and achievements that demonstrate the company values in contribution to company objectives.

These “recognition assessments” and kudos can then be used during the annual performance review as an additional data point on the strengths (John has been recognized repeatedly for innovation) and even weaknesses (but John has been recognized only once for teamwork) as potential areas of improvement. This presents a much more rounded view of an employee’s contributions of which managers may not even be aware. Moreover, since such a strategic recognition program is deployed company-wide, data can be gathered and used to benchmark an individual’s performance and demonstration of values in their work against direct peers, team members, the division and even the company as a whole.

[working girl]

Do people really crave negative feedback? :-) Although I expect most people prefer to get negative feedback sooner rather than later if there are consequences. Also, in times of low to non-existing pay increases, positive feedback is a form of compensation. Boo to managers who don't bother.