Giving Good Feedback: Is It That Simple?
Guest Blogger: Jackie Noto
Employee feedback is critical for personal and business success. Research on feedback shows that intentional and consistent feedback greatly improves staff expertise, productivity, and outcomes. But, knowing that feedback is important and delivering it effectively are two different things.
How Should Feedback Look?
And more importantly, what should it do? Managers often select tactics that have worked for them in the past (using similar feedback they’ve received or given to others). They may look to flashy infographics or business websites to find other strategies. However, the one-size-fits-all or it’s always worked before the approach can be insensitive to an employee’s individual context and history. Managers too stuck on feedback form rather than function will find it difficult to affect future performance and drive business results when those tactics fall flat.
Fortunately, Johnson, Rocheleau, and Tilka (2015) have examined the impacts of feedback based on form, function, and timing. Simple, yes, but nuanced and hard to consistently implement.
The Dimensions of Feedback
Researchers looked at two dimensions of feedback: ACCURACY and EVALUATION. Accuracy was defined as feedback provided contingent on or independent of the individual’s performance. Evaluation included whether that feedback was supportive (encouraging) or critical (constructive).
The Conditions of Feedback
The End Result
Contingent feedback made the most difference—an average 21% increase in performance. Interestingly, whether the feedback was supportive or critical had little effect (less than a tenth of a percent). So, does this mean managers can consistently use contingent, critical feedback without it backfiring?
Maybe, but not so fast. There was little to no change in work performance, but researchers noted,“…contingent (or noncontingent) critical feedback may contribute to a work environment that is more aversive overall, which may decrease job satisfaction as well as increase sabotage, theft, turnover, or other undesirable organizational outcomes.” In other words, be contingent and careful. Notice the effect of your feedback across multiple levels of the organization. To learn more, read the study’s Discussion section.
Take Action
Type of feedback is an important ingredient in managing the performance of others, but it’s only one aspect. If you’re new to OBM, consider taking a CE course on the multi-faceted world of managing workplace behavior. Start here:
Jackie Noto is a second-year Master’s student at Florida Tech studying both Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Organizational Behavior Management (OBM). She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of New England (focus: Mental Health and Rehabilitation). Jackie is involved in research FIT and works in OBM and clinical settings, including work with ABA Technologies, Inc. Jackie was a TA for OBM Applied!, April 2018!
[…] Feedback is specific information that describes current performance in relation to a performance goal. The effects of feedback on performance has been widely researched in OBM. This research suggests that multiple parameters of feedback delivery influence how effective it will be. First, the modality—form of feedback—is important. Studies have shown that the greatest improvements in performance can be obtained using a combination of graphic, verbal, and written feedback. Graphical feedback helps to illustrate trends in performance which helps employees identify how their performance is changing over time. With all three modalities of feedback, it is critical that the data regarding performance is objective. In other words, the data you share with your reports must represent observable behavior, not a subjective interpretation of performance. Subjective feedback can often come off as accusatory or opinionated which could lead to a lack of trust in your reports. Feedback should also be delivered frequently. This provides the performer with more opportunities to monitor their performance and make timely adjustments in areas that are not changing as intended. Finally, feedback should be specific. This requires that the performance being discussed is operationalized and described completely. This also includes describing the exact changes in the duration, frequency, latency, or other dimensions you are using to measure performance. When feedback is frequent, objective, specific, and immediate, it helps performers identify exactly what they need to do in order to achieve their goals. Meeting these goals is critical to the future performance of the employee and the organization. (Technical note: Feedback can function as both an antecedent and consequence. When feedback is delivered after behavior occurs and increases or decreases that behavior in the future, it functions as a consequence intervention. However, the same feedback interaction can also function as task clarification that evokes the desired response, thus functioning as an antecedent.) […]