Building a Feedback-Oriented Corporate Culture

Gautam Ghosh recently published a nice how-to post on holding more effective performance reviews.  One point, in particular, I think is important and would like to highlight.

"During the performance discussion, ask your manager to be frank and list out your strengths and also weaknesses vis-a-vis your current role as well as your next targeted role."

Employee Performance Management is a red-hot and highly contested area within the enterprise software industry and even within the smaller world of HR technology.  In fact, it can be so exciting to watch it evolve that we can forget about the human and organizational elements that really determine whether a performance management process provides value or simply becomes another dreaded administrative task.

If you've been in the field long enough or have read enough about it, you know that building a culture of candor is critical to seeing a return on your investment. 

Candor is what creates accountability. It allows us to drive performance and helps us get more accurate and reliable performance data into the system.

Candor also builds insight into what we are doing well and what we need to change. Indeed, candor is the starting point in turning observation and evaluation into development and change.  In this way, it is a critical "integration point" between the performance and learning processes within your organization.

In most cases, we look to our managers to be responsible for being candid and frank. However, as Gautam points out, employees can play an equal if not greater role in this process.

To clarify, little is more difficult than giving constructive feedback to someone who becomes defensive or upset upon hearing it. So no matter how brave your manager is, he or she will have a hard time telling you what needs to change if you respond with pushback, anger, or resentment.

Of course, managers pave the way for negative feedback during a performance appraisal by giving regular feedback throughout the year. But here, as well, employees can own and shepherd the process by asking for regular feedback from their bosses. If you want helpful comments, be specific. For example, ask for feedback on your performance in a particular skill or competency area rather than asking how you're doing in general. Or, as Gautam suggests, ask what you need to do to prepare for a target role.

In the end, employees may be the ones who derive the greatest benefit from a strong performance review process (you can't develop and grow as a person or in your career if you don't know what needs to change).  So having employees be active participants in the process only makes sense.  Plus, doing so helps prevent bad or mediocre managers from standing in the way of improvement.

Comments

[Mrityunjay Kumar]

Good post, thanks. Feedback giving and taking are both skills that are needed to make this successful. However, one of the factors I have seen playing a role in such an environment is trust that exists between manager and employee. This is especially true if the feedback is based on your on perspective ('gut instinct') based on very little data. I have been through many difficult review cycles where I belive the employee accepted the feedback only because we had talked enough in our 1-1s (and we had historically worked well together) and he was willing to take my word for it. Of course, later it worked out well and he could see the benefits (which in turn helped build more trust). In my opinion, building the trust becomes a pre-req.