Employee Performance Feedback

Friday December 24, 2010

One of the most fundamental functions of management is to evaluate the performance of employees. For many managers, employee performance evaluation is also a lonesome task to be avoided at all costs. Even when apprising an outstanding employee, managers often are reluctant to evaluate an employee’s performance. Sometimes it is as simple as the manager lacks the skills to execute an effective performance review session; sometimes there is never enough money to recognize even the top performer. So reviews are postponed or handled poorly, the result is that the organization’s best performers are left frustrated, angry, disillusioned, and demotivated. In addition, those top performers are looking at the organization’s competitor.

Employee performance avoidance often starts on day one of the new job. Rather than clearly outline the expectations, many mangers show the new employee to their workstation and dump them off, leaving the new hire to their own means. Job assignments may be delivered and retrieved on a routine basis with little or no feedback or comments from the manager. If feedback is provided, it may only be negative comments. Even with well-written job descriptions, new employees need a degree of coaching to ensure that even minor errors do not become barriers.

The University of Indiana’s “University HR Services” function provides training and development is the area of employee feedback for its managers and leaders. In that training U of I identifies eight key points to address during feedback sessions:

• Give specific examples of desirable and undesirable behaviors.
  Without specific examples of real life situations, the employee will
  only be confused by the vagueness of the feedback.

• Focused feedback on behavior, not the person.
  This will help the employee to “hear” the message and will
   “de-fuse” what could be a conformational conversation.

• Frame feedback in turns of helping the employee be
   successful. 
   Let the employee know that you are trying to help them
   achieve their goal of being a successful employee
   within the organization.

• Direct feedback towards behavior the employee
  can control.
  An employee cannot do much about things over which
  they have no control.

• Feedback should be timely.
   When an event takes place, it is important to provide
   feedback within a reasonable amount of time.

• Limit feedback to the amount the employee can process.
  Most employees are able to handle feedback on one
  or two issues at a time.

• Use active communication skills and confirm the
  employee is engaged in the conversation.
  Use active communication skills such as re-stating the
  feedback, asking the employee to re-state what has
  just been discussed.

• Follow up
   In a day or two, follow-up with the employee in a
   supportive manner.