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By Charlie Wonderlic

How to make performance feedback part of your weekly routine

For managers, supervisors and HR execs in many corporate workplaces, the demands of simply doing the job oftentimes get in the way of the details. One of those details is employee performance feedback. Somehow, Monday through Friday passes again and again without managers finding the time to really reflect on how their people are doing.

Managers typically schedule yearly performance reviews for their staffs- although in some busy workplaces, that “year” stretches out much longer than the calendar allows. Studies show that employees need and value performance feedback much more often than once a year in order to gauge how they’re doing. Nobody likes to walk into his or her yearly, raise-dependent performance review and get blindsided.

Further fallout from infrequent feedback? You could be reinforcing bad habits. If you’re not giving frequent feedback, employees can slip unknowingly into doing the wrong thing. And because they’re not hearing about it from you, they’ll keep on doing what they’re doing wrong. I’m not talking about flagrant errors, here. Any good manager will notice that, even with his or her eyes closed. Rather, I’m referring to the details of the job. Deciding which tasks to prioritize and which to back-burner, following up on phone calls, even customer interaction. If you’re not focusing on your details-namely employee feedback-it might mean that your employees are losing sight of theirs.

And it’s not just about preventing bad habits. Employees who are doing a great job may become resentful and discouraged if nobody’s noticing.

Here are some tips for giving your employees great performance feedback on the job:

• Just saying “Good job!” won’t do it.
  People want and need to know they’re doing their jobs well, of course. But part being a good manager is employee development. Give people praise for what they’re doing right but also offer tips you’ve learned over the years for making those tasks easier, better or more efficient.
• Create Feedback Fridays.
  Set up regular feedback sessions in which you talk with employees one-on-one or in work groups about how their jobs are going- specifically the problems or snags they’re encountering and the triumphs they’ve experienced since you last met. Offer praise for what they’re doing right, and suggestions to help them overcome the hurdles they’ve encountered. You can use these sessions as a sort of “review countdown,” offering advice, direction and praise on regular intervals before the yearly review rolls around.
• Do your reviews on time.
  Yearly performance reviews can be fraught with pitfalls if you don’t conduct them on time and also if you don’t provide ongoing feedback throughout the year leading up to the review. Here’s why: If you don’t conduct the review on time, employees will think you’re stalling because the company doesn’t want to cough up their raise. And, if the review is negative, leading to a small or non-existent bump in salary-and you haven’t provided them regular feedback about their less-than-stellar performance beforehand-employees won’t take the criticism constructively. They’ll feel blindsided, resentful and believe you’re just fabricating reasons to deny them more money.

For more information, please contact:

William Geheren
Wonderlic, Inc.
1795 N. Butterfield Rd.
Libertyville, IL 60048-1212
800.323.3742

william.geheren@wonderlic.com