Using Feedback To Improve Performance

Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith wrote, "Feedback is a gift that only other can give."  So, if feedback is a gift, why do so many of us struggle with giving and receiving it?
Much of the difficulty people have with feedback is actually about power. Our motive may be to control people if we give feedback to someone. When we resist feedback, we may really be resisting being changed. 

Before handing out feedback, it can be helpful to clarify the reason for it.  Here are five different types of feedback and suggestions for each. 

Evaluation Feedback: This is the feedback type that is found the most in the workplace.It's also the least helpful. Evaluation feedback comes at the end. When the performance year is over. At the end of a class that took a week. The end of a project.  True, we all need to be willing to rate ourselves, and the evaluation feedback will improve our performance next time.  But why not give and get feedback when we can learn from it real time?

Real-Time Performance Feedback: This type of feedback is usually given by someone whose success depends on you; for example your boss.  While it may be couched as an observation or something for you to think about, when someone shares performance feedback, they intend for you to change your behavior.

It is helpful to get clarifying information when you think that you are receiving performance feedback.  Try asking, "what exactly would you like me to stop or start doing?" Once you get the feedback, make the change!

Fine-Tuning: Fine-tuning feedback generally comes from people who are satisfied with the overall job you are doing, but see some areas you could tweak to get even better. One of the best examples of fine-tuning feedback I ever received was from a course participant.  She told me she enjoyed my course and then asked if she could share some feedback.  She then went on to explain that when I nodded my head while she and others were talking she felt rushed.  WOW!  I was blown away because I had no idea that this behavior had a negative effect on my audience.

Fine-tuning feedback is most effective when you share the impact a behavior has on you or on other people.  The person who is giving you feedback doesn't want to change you or even to control you in some way. The person receiving the feedback has the chance to decide whether to change or not change, the person giving the feedback is merely sharing how they are impacted.

Feed-Forward: Goldsmith came up with this one years ago. It happens when you suggest to someone how to behave in advance of an action, rather than wait for after and risk failure. For example, my husband had a presentation to give to the executive leadership committee at work, which was the first time he ever did anything like that.  His boss coached him in advance as to the proper way to dress, when he would be expected to speak, and even how detailed to make his presentation.

Slap Upside the Head: Two years ago, a colleague who is also a great friend sat me down and said, "You are making yourself and others miserable.  What's the deal?"

This is the kind of feedback that only great friends can give.  It consists of observations about you, that people share with you because they care about you. In his book, Who's Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi gives some great examples of this feedback along with the assertion that we all desperately need people in our lives who care enough to give it.

Slap upside the head feedback is not given with the intent of controlling or even changing for the sake of the person giving the feedback. The feedback is given because they understand your personal goals and see how your behavior is keeping you from reaching those goals.
Summary
Feedback Givers: Before you give feedback, think through your intention and the type of feedback that fits best.Don't forget that if you are not someone's superior, it is not appropriate to give evaluation feedback.  You can lead a horse to water . . .

If you are on the receiving end:  Keep in mind that we all are blind to certain things about ourselves, and feedback is one of the few ways to discover those things about ourselves.   Even when you don't agree with it, view feedback as a gift. If it's evaluation or performance feedback, you have a chance to change in order to do better in the eyes of others.  If it's fine-tuning or slap upside the head feedback, you have the choice to change or not.

Wendy Mack is a consultant, speaker, and change catalyst who specializes in helping leaders mobilize energy for change, For more articles and resources on leading and communicating change visit: www.WendyMack.com.