Orchestrating the Three Feedbacks may not be as easy as falling off a log. But it is probably simpler
than chopping down the tree AND getting out of the way.
I offer you four ways to make your feedback strategy make a difference to your employees' engagement.
Just do your feedback…
Simply. You know your employees and what type of response tools they are most comfortable with. (If you don't, ask them!) If an online survey works best for them, go with an online format. If you've got a large enough employee base and their comforts are diverse, you might consider providing the feedback instrument in various formats: hardcopy, online, tele-interview.
At the same time, keep the feedback tool simple and clear. Simple statements and questions do not play down their intelligence. Feedback tools that are user friendly encourage more thorough, accurate responses.
Shorter sentences are better than long ones. Clearly stated questions generate more accurate answers.
Frequently. Give and receive feedback often and you gain more information over time. That provides you more opportunities for improvements. That is probably the purpose of your feedback strategy.
Performance Feedback should occur more often than once, more often than twice a year. Not every discussion has to be formal, as the start- and end-of-year discussions probably are. Yet, every discussion can provide information and insights regarding the employee's performance: what to continue, what to improve, what to maintain.
Employee Feedback can happen as often as you want. Don't make it redundant. Request feedback about different elements of work in several surveys to prevent redundancy. Consider seeking employee feedback about job situation, management style, company, product, customers, or other specifics in separate surveys.
360o Feedback requires strong follow through. This may be best applied only once or twice a year. The value here comes from empirical use of the information received, communicating changes that will follow, and inviting subsequent feedback per those changes.
Consistently. Create and follow a process to establish feedback as a meaningful part of your business culture. You may have different processes for each of the three feedbacks, but you want to fulfill each process consistently. For example, initiate the year's Performance Evaluation in similar ways at the same time each year. Conduct discussions through the year following similar formats at similar times. Complete the year's Performance Evaluation in a "usual way" and at an expected time of the year.
If you choose to change the process and procedure for any feedback device, communicate the change and its reasons early and repeatedly. You can make employees comfortable with whatever changes what they were comfortable doing.
Dynamically. Implement these management tools with energy and action. The excitement and enthusiasm with which you introduce and repeatedly re-introduce your feedback plans convey importance to your employees. That importance increases their engagement in providing thorough, candid information. It also increases their attention to and action with feedback they receive from these tools.
A feedback survey or evaluation instrument by itself is not exciting. It is neither a thrilling novel nor a dramatic news event. The way in which management presents it to the employee base gives it excitement. That excitement can stimulate employees' engagement in the feedback process.
Simple, frequent, consistent, dynamic use of any or all of the feedback types discussed can improve your employees' attention to what they do, how they do it, the company for which they do it, and ways they might do it better.
Tags: 360 feedback, Employee Engagement, employee feedback, performance feedback
