Feedback & the performance appraisal interview

How often have you found yourself in a position where you needed to give feedback?
-How often have you conveyed your opinion about an idea or project?
-How often have you hesitated or feared that your opinion might be misunderstood, hurt someone, or ruin a relationship?

These emotional reactions are normal, but they shouldn’t stop you from giving and receiving critical feedback in your life and career.

If there’s one thing that helps us improve our performance and develop our skills, it’s feedback. Giving or receiving feedback may not always be easy, but we must remember that it is a valuable tool for our personal growth and professional success.

I have been in this position many times, as an executive, as a consultant, and in recent years as a coach, so I understand you completely:

I understand that this process can be difficult and upsetting. It’s normal to hesitate and worry about how the other person will react or if it will negatively affect your relationship or even the workplace climate.

I understand that forming and expressing our opinions can be complicated. I also understand that feedback is essential for improving relationships and performance.

See below how I can help.

The best-known rendering of the term feedback in Greek According to the dictionary of our beloved epistemologist Professor Georgios Babiniotis, feedback means revival. Rekindling means rekindling an almost extinguished fire.

If we think of fire as something destructive, we will not want to rekindle it with feedback, so we avoid it because we fear it.

I thought of the following:
Revival also means rewarming, strengthening, and stimulating—the good part of the fire. If we think of the concept of feedback with a positive sign, it is an opportunity to rewarm reinforcement, stimulate the relationship, and stimulate the project and the climate.

Feedback as a virtue.

If we accept feedback as a virtue, the excellent management of the virtue, mediocrity, is to give feedback at the right time, to the right person, for the right reason, in the right way, and in the correct quantity for a good purpose.

Let us now see its extremes, excess, and deficiency.

If we think of feedback as revitalizing a relationship, an idea, or a project, its complete absence is indifference and stagnation.

I would see her exaggeration as the fire, that is, burn it (!).

Overdoing feedback creates something destructive and does not serve the purpose of feedback. The lack of it in the opposite again has negative consequences.

I understand, in this way, all the internal barriers that make it difficult for any human being to give feedback today.

The performance evaluation.

A practical example of feedback is the supervisor-subordinate interview to present the results of annual workplace performance reviews.
These evaluations are done anonymously or anonymously. If the supervisor does the review, it is by name.
If more people do it, in the 360, in addition to the supervisor, some colleagues, partners, subordinates, or even suppliers and customers participate, the employee does not know who has given each result, so it is anonymous.

In both cases, according to the process and the system’s essential purpose, the evaluation’s result needs to be transferred to the employee in the context of a development dialogue to improve the employee without disrupting the cooperation relationship.

This dialogue is usually requested by supervisors as an opportunity to discuss employee development.

The boss may have all the phobias I mentioned above.

For this reason, in many cases, supervisors question the performance appraisal system, avoid it as much as possible, or underestimate their value by claiming that HR gives them more work.

In addition, they present excuses such as I don’t have time or the employee already knows; we chat every day, and I don’t have anything else to say.

The solution.

Sometimes, an HR executive is asked to provide feedback on the evaluation. In this case, the supervisor avoids all of the above, which puts him in a difficult position.

But to what extent has the purpose of the evaluation been achieved in this way?

Some companies call in a trained and accredited professional coach to give feedback. This has happened to me; my client company called me to perform evaluation feedback on their executives.

Performance evaluation feedback from a coach.

It is done very well, and the employee understands the strengths and areas for improvement because the coach is a qualified professional who knows the art of feedback. He knows how to ask the right questions and, most importantly, listen. 2 valuable skills in feedback.

In all cases, dialogue with the supervisor is still necessary.

What would it add or take away, in your opinion?

What do you suggest so that appropriately trained people, apart from the coach, who can directly influence the employee and are in the company itself, are involved in the feedback development dialogue?

How do you see training these people in the art of feedback and, precisely, the coaching skills needed for feedback?

The training of supervisors in feedback.

Training supervisors in questioning, active listening, and feedback are vital skills that make the post-assessment interview easier.

This way, the feedback interview can become a positive experience for both, and there will be no reason to avoid it.

Feedback & Feedforward.

According to Marshall Goldsmith, the #1 World Leadership & Coaching Guru, the art of feedback combines not only talking about the past – feedback – but also about the future.

The discussion that focuses on the future is called feedforward.

Past feedback is the presentation and evaluation of ideas, thoughts and actions, situations, and behaviors that have occurred in the past.

Usually, whoever gives feedback describes something that has happened in the past according to their perception, which may differ from other people’s perceptions.

People perceive reality as if they see it through different glasses. However, feedback, however subjective, is information one can rely on to see what needs to be done next and what actions and decisions to make.

Because feedback is subjective, it must be obtained from multiple sources to strengthen the information and increase its credibility.

The supervisor called to give the feedback needs to recognize the value of consistent feedback and its limited effectiveness in change if not combined with the perspective feedback I discuss below.

Perspective feedback (feedforward).

Perspective feedback presents ideas, thoughts, and actions to improve a situation or behavior.

According to Marshall, feedforward can replace feedback, and its results are mostly better.

Marshall claims that focusing on the past is useless because the past can no longer be changed. Our behavior is only changed by ideas and ways that can be applied in the future.

Clinging to past behaviors does no good. It is a source of grumbling and obstacles to any improvement in the future. It’s like the bed bug, as Marshall Goldsmith says with characteristic humor.

The past gives us helpful information to take action for the present and future and not indulge in useless criticism, which consumes mental and spiritual energy without return.

The interview can be a valuable opportunity for constructive collaboration with positive results for future performance and relationships.

I invite you to book a meeting with me HERE to see how our collaboration can enhance the feedback process and its essential purpose.

We can work together in 3 ways:

1. Personal 1:1 coaching sessions of discovery and action towards achieving your goals and the positive influence you wish to have.
2. Please participate in the Coaching Professional Diploma (Part & Full time) to be trained by the unique international certified program with Greek philosophy at its center for your development to become a Coach Leader, internal or professional Coach in demand.
3. To design training programs and improve employee performance and satisfaction for your company.

Better life, work, and business!

The most practical things you need today and every day are for you, your team, and your business.

Book a meeting with me.

HERE

Your coach

Barbara