Five best practices for facilitating performance feedback

Although it is a necessity in some capacity for any highly performing organization, providing performance feedback is rarely eagerly anticipated. In fact, managers naturally become uncomfortable when delivering less-than-stellar news. This is because the recipients of the performance appraisals are likely to become defensive when confronted with constructive feedback.

In the past, we’ve shared best practices for improving employee feedback in general. As an extension of this, we wanted to provide some specific research-based principles for providing constructive criticism. As noted by APA’s Center for Organizational Excellence, there are 5 recommendations to ensure feedback stays constructive, as opposed to destructive:

• • Avoid performance attributions/Focus on the future
• • Be specific in describing behaviors
• • Stay in control of your emotions and setting
• • Be a coach/ally instead of just an evaluator
• • Acknowledge, explain, and apologize for you actions

In light of the last recommendation, they explain:

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After careful reflection, you may discover that your work style or behaviors may have led to some of your employees’ performance problems. Did you wait until the last minute to give feedback or announce a deadline? Have you been avoidant of feedback in the past and only waited until things were at their worst before addressing it? Did you inadvertently deliver destructive feedback in the past? If so, it’s not too late to acknowledge this with your employees and apologize. A sincere apology can help reduce the negative impact of destructive criticism, as well as explaining that you have high standards for performance and did not intend to harm the recipient

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For more information on the other tips, please see the original article.