Feedback – Tool to build high performing teams

If you have someone who reports to you, it is your duty to provide time to time feedback to the reportee about how they are doing. If the person is not doing well he/she needs to be made aware of the fact that they are not doing well and improvement is needed. And if they are doing well then also they need to be told that they are doing well and they should keep that up

As a supervisor I generally have a short discussion with the reportee where in I portray the following backed by the facts.

• Work highlights

Work highlights of the reportee, what was expected and what has been achieved and how it was achieved.

• Reflections

Contemplation of the reportee’s behavior and attitude during the period of time.

• Point of view

What is my point of view and thoughts about the employee. What changes (good or bad) have you seen in the reportee

• Actions

A list of actions points for the reportee to improve his/her performance.

In turn I expect response and commitment to actions from the reportee.

Benefits of the feedback

1. When the employees know that they will get time to time feedback for their work, they are motivated to give their best.
2. Feedback promotes growth as employees getting regularly strive for the excellence.
3. The employees start trusting you when you give accurate feedback to them.
4. Creates a friendly work environment
5. Promotes people engagement

Pillars of feedback

1. Feedback should be timely i.e. the feedback should be provided such that the employee has enough time to act on the action points.
2. Feedback should be accurate and should be backed up with the facts.
3. Do not give verbal feedback, document the feedback in some tool or send an email of the outcome of your discussion with the employee.
4. Feedback should be actionable. There must be a list of actionable that the employee should commit to action on.
5. Providing feedback should be Iterative process. You should provide feedback multiple times each time revisiting the actionables and goals set during the previous iteration.

Feedback loop is the iterative process to provide the feedback. The employee learns from the feedback what actions need to be taken to improve the performance. Then he/she works on those actionables. Finally the actions are re-measured to see the change in the performance.  This process should continue year or year to create best performing teams.

Finally the Individual feedback is personal and should not be shared with anyone except the intended individual.