How to Establish a Feedback-Rich Work Environment
Dafne was a star in the making, she represented the organization's future, and unfortunately, she had had enough. Her busy manager’s refrain of “I wish I could spend more time with you and other team members” had worn thin. Dafne needed to know whether her work was meeting, exceeding or not meeting expectations. She needed to know what had to be improved and truly felt that a word of thanks from her manager would go a long way. Dafne had never worked for a “no news is good news manager” before. She felt that the “check the box” performance reviews every six months with little or no feedback other than a hasty “good job” in between was no longer acceptable. Her requests to the manager for feedback and positive suggestions for quick check-ins had consistently been met with the worn-out refrain. Dafne decided it was time to look for another job.
As a leader and manager, you've learned that effective feedback enables better employee performance and strengthens engagement. During widespread talent shortages where employers are striving and struggling to keep employees, timely feedback habits are an important, inexpensive and impactful tactic of smart talent management. The good news is it doesn’t take as much time as you fear, and it’s easier than you think.
The great reflection
What some have called “The Great Resignation” I prefer to think of as “The Great Reflection.”
Many people have had a chance to rethink their career choices for job satisfaction, work-life balance, and where they can be themselves and do their best work.
Given the current talent shortages and greater job mobility through virtual work, many continue to question their commitment to their current employers. Talent management that creates employee engagement through positive employee experiences and healthy workplaces has never been so important. We’ve known for a long time that a feedback-rich work environment has great benefits in job satisfaction, engagement, and employee retention.
Feedback is more important than ever. It is a key component of the most important relationship at work, the one between the manager or team leader and their team member. The manager significantly influences whether employees stay or begin a job search.
Here are some thoughts on how to quickly strengthen your ability to deliver effective feedback.
A foundation of healthy relationships
Industrial and organizational psychologist Dr. Tammy Carroll, founder of Momenta Consultation, a certified coach and psychometrician, is in the feedback and self-awareness business.
She tells me that the leaders and managers she sees getting feedback right begin with creating, emphasizing, and nurturing healthy relationships. They create a foundation of an ongoing dialogue with an accent on learning characterized by frequent, primarily positive, exchanges where leaders and managers ask open questions and listen intently, so people feel heard. Doing this creates conditions of safety where feedback goes both ways.
For those of you who like metrics to gauge your effectiveness, below are a few tips you can use on top of Dr. Carroll’s baseline advice.
See also: How Leaders Intervene Effectively
Making your weekly feedback numbers
Researchers Tom Rath, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman have written that most of our feedback needs to be positive, and those positive comments and observations should outnumber those at times perceived as negative (albeit always constructive) ones by nearly 6 to 1.
This is not an argument for positive-only feedback; it is quite the opposite. It argues the importance and necessity of constructive feedback that may be difficult to hear by the receiver and that this vital information needs to be surrounded by a greater amount of positive feedback though not in the same conversations.
The Culture Code author Daniel Coyle reminds us that you’re much more effective when you separate positive from constructive feedback exchanges in separate time and space.
Leading and managing people is a weekly practice. Researcher Marcus Buckingham in his book Nine Lies About Work, validates what effective leaders and managers have used for decades. Specifically, the practice of locking in weekly scheduled check-ins with all their direct reports to review progress, identify obstacles and how to overcome them, share and receive feedback, and agree on priorities and deliverables. These highly effective leaders and managers habitually inquire about what help and support their team members need from them.
While positive feedback can thrive in organic, spontaneous meetings and exchanges, your people deserve the opportunity, respect, and safety of regular one-on-ones for all the reasons listed previously and to receive constructive feedback.
Aim for deliberate, not perfection
Thanks to feedback scholars like Sheila Heen and Doug Stone of the Harvard Negotiation Project, we know that feedback evaluates, teaches, and recognizes. Being clear and intentional about what you’re trying to achieve while delivering feedback is important.
You may also want to consider adjusting your approach and delivery, bearing in mind what the Center for Creative Leadership calls ‘The 4 Types of Talent Conversations’. You’ll benefit by being clear on whom your feedback is intended for.
For example, your feedback to people who are superior performers, a group that deserves your attention as much as others, is often in the form of recognition with a career development focus.
Your feedback, aimed at people with greater potential, is an investment in the future that builds on their strengths and their abilities to do more.
Beginners at the beginning of their career or new to their positions benefit from ongoing support and sustained follow-up and mentoring.
Your feedback to people whose performance falls short of expectations and needs to show progress and short-term results should clearly identify expectations, demonstrate required skills, and include deadlines and potentially consequences. It is in everyone’s best interest to devote only 20% of your feedback energy to this last group.
New tricks and time-tested techniques
Tap into tools but go further - Basecamp, Trello, Slack, Teams, Zoom or your employer’s recognition program are just some of the tools you have at your disposal to pass on the short, timely, and positive feedback that lets people know how they’re doing. They form part of your feedback toolkit and allow you to comment, acknowledge, and recognize in a quick and easy way and counter the fact that we are often not in physical proximity to those who need to hear from us.
As I highlight in my book Humanity at Work, Leading for Better Relationships and Results, in all feedback conversations, it’s best to ask permission to share your observations and state your intentions to be helpful and contribute to the person’s success. All while being factual with examples. You’ll also stimulate more learning and commitment to solutions by asking questions rather than providing fixes. Lastly, stating your optimism about the individual’s capacity for learning and change can go a long way.
Feedback-rich workplaces check many talent management and employee engagement boxes, so much so that some organizations bake it into their objectives.
Diane Allain, Executive Advisor, Leadership Development & Coach with Uni Financial Cooperation, told me they have adopted “creating and sustaining a feedback-rich culture” as a stated strategic objective with their one thousand employees. They’re marching towards that objective through training and coaching leaders, managers and staff and a commitment to straight talk.
Leaders and managers can create feedback-rich environments by adopting effective feedback habits for a healthy culture, better retention, and ultimately better results.
In the end, it’s your commitment to healthy relationships characterized by ongoing feedback conversations, both the more frequent and spontaneous positive ones and the weekly constructive ones with everyone on your team, that will have the most significant impact.
Engaging and retaining the promising Dafnes and empowering them to do great work depends on many factors. You can improve your chances for success considerably by ensuring a feedback-rich work climate.