Part of a manager’s job is to give feedback to employees to help them meet and exceed the expectations for performance. It should be easy, right? Just share your perspectives with the employee and they will improve, grow, and develop. As easy as this concept sounds, most managers struggle with giving feedback that is constructive, productive, and received the way it was intended.
Why is feedback so hard to give? One reason is because managers often don’t really give feedback; they make judgments. Let’s draw a distinction between judgment and feedback. Judgments include opinions or conclusions. Feedback is a presentation of the facts. Here are some other distinctions:
|
Judgment |
Feedback |
|
Opinion |
Factual |
|
Conclusions |
Evidence |
|
Conceptual |
Concrete |
|
Emotion-driven |
Free of emotional influence |
|
Provided for the benefit of the giver |
Provided for the benefit of the receiver |
|
Intended to influence change |
Intended to influence growth |
Often, when we intend to provide helpful feedback it is heard as if we are passing judgment. And, when a judgment is lobbed, resistance usually results. An essential principle of a Painless Performance Conversation is to recognize this important difference. Here are some examples:
Judgment: “You didn’t prepare enough for that important presentation.”
Feedback: “There were critical details and statistics that were not included in your presentation. For example…”
Judgment: “You are not carrying your weight in the office.”
Feedback: “You have completed three case files this week. Your peers are completing an average of six case files per week.”
Judgment: “You did a great job today! Nice work!”
Feedback: “Your ideas for solving the Jones complaint were innovative and effective. You gave the customer several options, all of which were appropriate given the situation.”
Judgment: “Many of your assignments are not getting done thoroughly.”
Feedback: “This month there were four projects that were not submitted by the deadline that we agreed upon.”
Feedback is the tool great managers use to encourage self-assessment and accountability. It takes some thought but the results are more meaningful to the employee and more productive for the manager. The last time you gave an employee feedback, was it really feedback or was it judgment? How can you, as an HR professional help, help the leaders in your organization give more feedback? I’d love to hear your suggestions and ideas.
June 3, 2009 at 12:10 pm |
Marnie, I think you’ve raised some very interesting points. Its so difficult to give negative feedback that I think managers often overlook the critical information and jump right to the end of the discussion.
July 14, 2009 at 7:27 am |
Marnie,
Thanks for your comments. Providing objective feedback is probably the most important, but least emphasized, effort of the first-line supervisor. You’ve reminded me again of not only the importance of it, but how to deliver it in a way that it would be difficult to view as anything less than objective. I would only add that it’s important to include positive paths forward when delivering negative feedback. THANKS!
July 14, 2009 at 9:31 am |
I agree that feedack should include a path forward. However, it shouldn’t be discussed until both parties agree that an issue needs to be resolved. If the employee doesn’t agree that a change is in order, they are not likely to embrace a manager’s suggestions to fix it. There is a specific order these conversations should follow in order to fully engage the employee in problem solving. Jumping straight to “here’s what you need to do” rarely works.
Thanks for all the great comments!
November 19, 2009 at 1:10 pm |
Thanks for the comments, LiPing and Florence. More and more I believe it’s critical to differentiate between feedback and judgement. So few of us have really thought about hte difference and it’s significant. Good luck in your research!
Marnie