Doing Frequent Feedback Right

In case you haven’t heard, a single annual performance review will no longer cut it. Employees want feedback and they want it often. A PwC survey found that 60% of staffers want feedback on a daily or weekly basis; for employees under 30 the number grows to 72%. The danger for managers is letting more frequent check-ins become so freeform that they don’t offer staff the performance details they need. Don’t mistake chat for constructive feedback. Sharing general observations and advice is no substitute for comments that are specific. I.e., Comments like “If I were you” (hearer thinks: “but you are not me”); “When I had this job” (hearer thinks: “but things were so different then”) can easily be misconstrued, or possibly worse, ignored. Instead, choose a way to focus your informal check-in.

Ask about:

1) Triggering events — new project, new manager, crammed schedule

2) Current work — progress, support needed

3) Progress against goals — clarity about role in company’s larger mission, goals calibration

4) Barriers — unexpected challenges, obstacles you could remove; obstacle you might be creating without knowing it.

That way you can ensure that you share or gather something useful in the course of your catch up.