Turning Feedback On Its Head Particularly In Light Of Working Remotely
By Karen Jackson
For the last 25+ years the Jackson Consulting Group has been immersed in performance feedback, developing countless performance management programs and training 100s of leaders to provide effective performance feedback to their employees. Why? Because research and practice indicate that high quality feedback is linked with positive organizational outcomes. However, despite all the research and expertise available, we’ve always felt that as a community of practice, we’ve lacked vital information. And that is, what do we know about the employee’s experience of feedback?
Recently, we conducted a qualitative research study to answer this question, and look at the employee’s experience – rather than the manager’s. The results of this research indicated that feedback is not a concrete event, but rather it is experienced as part of the on-going social interaction at work. Employees experience feedback as meaningful (i.e. helpful and motivational) when 6 elements are in place. Without these 6 elements, feedback can be, at best, a tick-box exercise, and at worst, downright devastating.
Each of these 6 elements are crucial in their own right, however, employees experience the real essence of meaningful feedback when all 6 come together:
- Trusting relationship: between the manager and the employee
- Dialogue: meaningful feedback is a back and forth, a dialogic process, not a monologue
- Safety: people feel safe to be open when they see their manager as being “on the same side” and ready to work things out together
- Time: feedback requires prioritization and time; this is seen as a direct indication of how much the manager and the organization care about the employee
- Balanced: people need to hear more about their strengths if you expect them to do something about their weaknesses
- Making a difference: the experience is meaningful, when employees are told how they are making a difference
By turning feedback on its head, we learn that it’s not enough for managers to have the skills to provide feedback well, employees experience feedback as something much bigger than that. Acting on this data means that we really have listened to employees, and that’s always important. In light of Covid-19 and working remotely, cultivating these conditions and behaviours seems even more crucial.
If we bear in mind, during these unprecedented times, that feedback is experienced as part of an on-going social interaction rather than a concrete event, any work interaction, remote or otherwise, gives organizations and leaders the opportunity to help build these 6 elements so that employees feel confident to navigate these unknown times.
Please leave your comments or call us, we’d love to chat further about the research.
