Rules of Engagement: Feedback – From Everywhere and Everyone

Recognize This! – “Feedback” is not the same as “annual performance review.”

What do you need most in your work? Sure, the cynics will say “to be left alone.” But most of us want to know if what we’re doing is right.

That’s why I argue Gen Y / millennial employees are not “recognition needy” as they are often portrayed, but instead at a stage of their lives and careers where they need frequent feedback to know if what they’re doing is the right thing to focus on and if their efforts are delivering the right results.

Indeed, I believe this is true for all employees who deeply care about the quality of their work and their contributions, regardless of generation of length of career. We all need and crave feedback. Yet, many organizations have let themselves become hostages to the annual performance review as the primary means of feedback – one source of feedback (the manager) given at one point in time.

That’s simply not enough. To this point in TLNT, authors Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni shared excerpts from their book Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversation Employees Want, including these insights:

Quotation

“Opportunities for feedback abound. And what probably comes to your mind first is performance feedback — job-related information about an employee’s behavior or results that helps to drive improvement. That’s certainly important — but it’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about a broader and more expansive dialogue that drives development… Employees need a reality check — an opportunity to expand their perspective beyond their own to round out their self-assessment. Voila! An opportunity for feedback.”

And that feedback needs to come from more than one source. Often, peers can give better, more nuanced feedback than managers. Kaye and Giulioni go on to say:

Quotation

“Employees need to develop the broadest network possible to facilitate their career success. Co-workers and others within and outside the organization have potentially important information, ideas, and helpful contacts. And gathering feedback from them is an ideal way for employees to begin to engage others in creating the path forward.”

Sure, everyone is a student. Equally true is everyone is a teacher. Open the communication lines for peers to coach, encourage and give positive feedback to each other. Open up social performance management mechanisms through strategic, social employee recognition. Stay tuned for more information on this approach coming from my CEO, Eric Mosley, next month.

Do you get the regular feedback you need in your work?

Earlier Rules of Engagement Posts:

Rules of Engagement: If you want to engage me, give me control!
Rules of Engagement: Communication and Line of Sight