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Ever since Adobe, GE, Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte, and SAP decided to radically change their performance management processes HR exerts have been touting the need for managers to give more frequent, less formal, and more useful feedback.\u00a0 But how does an effective manager know when to give feedback?\u00a0 Furthermore, do managers even know what to give the feedback about?\u00a0 Putting aside how to give the feedback, let\u2019s focus here solely on when the timing is right and the role of the feedback giver.\u00a0 I suggest managers and leaders need to be \u201csupportive reporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
In my experience, there are two clear situations that can trigger useful feedback.\u00a0 The first is when integrity is broken.\u00a0 The second when a process has too much variation.<\/p>\n
Imagine you are a weather prognosticator (meteorologist).\u00a0 You call for rain and it doesn\u2019t rain.\u00a0 Should your boss give you feedback?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you already know that was a mistake?\u00a0 Would your boss\u2019s feedback help you to learn something new? If not, what\u2019s the purpose?<\/p>\n
Did you lie? Do meteorologists lie?\u00a0 I know what you are thinking, do they exaggerate just to get ratings?\u00a0 This seems to be especially true when a snow storm is forecast.\u00a0 The reporting often seems a bit sensational and people scurry to the grocery store to empty shelves of water and milk.<\/p>\n
If meteorologists don\u2019t lie, then what was the root cause of the mistake?\u00a0 Was it the computer models used to forecast?\u00a0 Was it the data used to enter the models?\u00a0 Maybe we don\u2019t even know.\u00a0 Obviously, the meteorological process has too much variation.<\/p>\n
Again, there are two clear situations that can trigger useful feedback.\u00a0 The first is when integrity is broken.\u00a0 The second when a process has too much variation.<\/p>\n
When people break their promises (agreements) they damage performance for themselves and for others. Any broken agreements require immediate feedback.\u00a0 An agreement is like a promise.\u00a0 It is a specific and time sensitive task where a predictable process is used to achieve it.<\/p>\n
Delivering information completely and on-time can be considered an agreement.\u00a0 Arriving on-time is an agreement.<\/p>\n
In an organization (a system) people are interdependent.\u00a0 If one person expects something from another, and they don\u2019t get it, their performance will suffer.\u00a0 If the meteorologist expected new data from an affiliate and did not receive it on-time, the quality of their prediction will suffer.\u00a0 The affiliate broke an agreement.\u00a0 The affiliate needs feedback to prevent that from happening again.<\/p>\n
Anytime an agreement is broken, there is an immediate opportunity for feedback. The feedback discussion will focus on preventing that agreement (promise) from being broken in the future.\u00a0 An apology from the offender might also be appropriate. The discussion will center around improving the process to keep the agreement next time.<\/p>\n
This past Sunday I was supposed to be the lector at the\u00a0Church. It was not in my schedule on my phone and so I showed up at the Church not expecting to be the lector. Somehow I made a mistake and mis-read the schedule.\u00a0 I still don’t understand how that happened.\u00a0 I just missed it. A friend\u00a0of mine had to stand in for me at the\u00a0last minute. I had no idea I made a mistake (broke my agreement from the perspective of the\u00a0Priest and the lector coordinator)\u00a0until she called me later that morning and told me I had broken my agreement.<\/p>\n
She and I laughed about it. She was loving and caring and funny in her feedback. We laughed even though I was embarrassed.\u00a0 I immediately\u00a0checked the schedule (and my phone) again to be sure that wouldn’t happen again (my process).<\/p>\n
We need to be sure employees are aware they broke an agreement and that you and others know they did it as well. Because it is so important employees understand and appreciate\u00a0the need to keep their agreements, feedback in these situations is essential.\u00a0 It\u2019s important everyone self-manage their own agreements and the feedback encourages this skill.<\/p>\n
Be a supportive reporter and a coach for integrity and help others if they need help.\u00a0 My friend in Church was a supportive reporter.<\/p>\n
The second reason to give feedback is when a process needs improvement.\u00a0 This is a bit more complicated and usually requires the use of quality improvement tools.<\/p>\n
When integrity is broken and when processes need fixing are the two triggers when feedback is needed.\u00a0 Anything else might be interpreted as either micro-management, and or bullying.\u00a0 Be a \u201csupportive reporter\u201d instead.<\/p>\n