Using Feedback To Improve Performance
May 25, 2010 by gfrancis
Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith wrote, “Feedback is a gift that only other can give.” So, if feedback is a gift, why do so many of us struggle with giving and receiving it?
Power is the culprit for much of the trouble we have giving and receiving feedback. Our motive may be to control people if we give feedback to someone. When we resist feedback, we may really be resisting being changed.
It can be helpful to get clear on the purpose of feedback before we give it. Here we will explain five different types of feedback and ideas for handling each type.
Evaluation Feedback: This type of feedback is probably the most common in the world of work.Unfortunately, it is also the kind that is the least helpful. The timeframe at which evaluation feedback comes is always at the end. The end of the performance year. At the end of a class that took a week. At the completion of a project. Sure it’s helpful for all us to gauge how we did, and we may use evaluation feedback to improve next time. But why not give and get feedback when we can learn from it real time?
Real-Time Performance Feedback: This type of feedback is usually given by someone whose success depends on you; for example your boss. While it may be couched as an observation or something for you to think about, when someone shares performance feedback, they intend for you to change your behavior.
When you sense that someone is trying to give performance feedback, it may help you both to get very clear. Try asking, “what exactly would you like me to stop or start doing?” Once you’ve gotten the feedback, make the change!
Fine-Tuning: With this type of feedback, you generally are hearing from someone who is very satisfied with the job you are doing, but see some areas where you can improve even more. One of the best examples I can give of fine-tuning feedback came from someone who participated in a course I gave. She asked me if she could share some feedback after she told me how much she had enjoyed the course. She then went on to explain that when I nodded my head while she and others were talking she felt rushed. WOW! I had no idea that my head nodding was having this effect on the audience, so her feedback blew me away.
The key to giving fine-tuning feedback is to share the impact a behavior has on you or others. The person giving the feedback is not necessarily interested in controlling you, or even changing you. By sharing how your behavior is impacting them – they give the receiver the opportunity to change or not.
Feed-Forward: Goldsmith came up with this one years ago. It happens when you suggest to someone how to behave in advance of an action, rather than wait for after and risk failure. Years ago my husband was about to present to his company’s executive leadership team for the first time. His boss gave him great feed-forward about how to dress, when to speak, how much detail to go into, etc.
Slap Upside the Head: Two years ago, a colleague who is also a great friend sat me down and said, “You are making yourself and others miserable. What do you think you’re doing?”
This is the kind of feedback that only great friends can give. It is very personal feedback that should only be shared because you care about someone and are concerned. In his book, Who’s Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi gives some great examples of this feedback along with the assertion that we all desperately need people in our lives who care enough to give it.
Slap upside the head feedback is not given with the intent of controlling or even changing for the sake of the person giving the feedback. The feedback is given because they understand your personal goals and see how your behavior is keeping you from reaching those goals.
Summary
Those giving feedback: Think through before giving feedback what the most appropriate form would be to achieve the intention you have for it.Don’t forget that if you are not someone’s superior, it is not appropriate to give evaluation feedback. You can lead a horse to water . . .
Those on the receiving end of feedback: remember that we are all unaware of how we come across at times, and feedback is the way we learn about these areas and have the opportunity to correct them. Even when you don’t agree with it, view feedback as a gift. If it’s evaluation or performance feedback, you have a chance to change in order to do better in the eyes of others. If it’s fine-tuning or slap upside the head feedback, you have the choice to change or not.
Wendy Mack is a consultant, speaker, and change catalyst who specializes in helping leaders mobilize energy for change, For more articles and resources on leading and communicating change visit: www.WendyMack.com.
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