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The Manager's Guide to Employee Feedback
The Manager's Guide to Employee Feedback

The Manager's Guide to Employee Feedback: Master this essential skill for new managers and successfully deliver feedback to raise your team's performance with this practical guide book and ebook.

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The Manager's Guide to Employee Feedback

Chapter 2. Delivering Balanced Feedback

 

"In the theatre, the actor is given immediate feedback."

 
 --Charles Keating

In this chapter, I will demonstrate a general feedback model for regular use with your staff. You don't have to follow the exact framework given here, but you should consistently incorporate feedback into your routine as a new manager. Again, this model is just one way of applying the core principles of feedback, and the later chapters will detail models that are better suited to other, more specific situations.

In this chapter, you will:

  • Meet Brian, who taught me more about management and leadership than anyone else

  • Learn about a yearly feedback structure to help build high performing teams

  • Learn how to use the WIN model of feedback

  • Apply your new feedback skills when writing "grown-up" appraisals

Meet Brian


My second management assignment was to lead a team of technical designers who sat at computer terminals for most of the day, designing schematic networks for large complex engineering systems. Unusually, there was an opportunity for this almost "back office" team of technical people to become a leading group in the department, driving forward the technical aspects of the programs that we delivered. I was really looking forward to the move. I had only been in management for six months, but my new bosses wanted me to head up the team and really shake things up. I sat with the outgoing manager to discuss the team's current workload and to understand more about the personalities within the team. Then he delivered a crushing blow: he had agreed to bring Brian into the team.

Brian was a very experienced designer who had worked all over the world for some really large corporations and in some very exotic locations. He had been with this particular organization for some ten years or so...

My management calendar


Fairly quickly, I settled into a routine of setting objectives and discussing how they were progressing with the team. For most of my management career, I managed fairly large, diverse teams with multiple project responsibilities. As a new manager, I soon learned that you need to know what each of your staff is working on and whether they are delivering on their commitments or not. In order to do this, I established a regular pattern of activity with my teams that I used for many years and which I still refer to now when I'm training new managers. This is the structure that I wrapped around my nocturnal nemesis:

Once per day

Speak to each of your staff, a mixture of work and social conversations. You'd be surprised how many managers don't do this even when they are in the office.

Once per week

Spend about 45 minutes with each of your staff (or as small project teams if appropriate) reviewing what they have done over the last week and what they need to accomplish over the...

Back to Brian


If this structure had previously been followed and executed accurately, do you think that Brian's performance and results would have carried on in the pattern that they had done? I would argue not, and there would have been some change in his behavior. Of course, it's not necessary to turn every employee into the next head of department, and sadly there will be times when a capability or performance management approach has to be taken. Now, you might also think that this seems like a large and elaborate structure to solve a specific problem, and I would agree with you. However, the advantage of operating this way is that it gives you a "catch-all" approach to successfully leading a team and delivering on your promises. It also gives you a springboard to deliver at least twelve high-quality feedback discussions every year by using the WIN model once per month. I know people who probably haven't had twelve high-quality feedback discussions in their whole career!

The WIN model


  • What went well

  • Interesting aspects of performance

  • Next time…

Let's take a look at the WIN model of feedback, which was derived from an Eastern European sports coaching model. It's a structure for emphasizing the positive aspects of someone's performance and also for suggesting areas of improvement. In that sense, it's a "balanced" model. Where some people have come unstuck using an approach like this is in trying to deliver a reprimand with it. If you need to have a purely corrective conversation with someone, use the DESC model in Chapter 4, Delivering a Reprimand. That model doesn't attempt to highlight positives at the same time!

What went well

Here's an opportunity to describe what someone has done that you want them to keep doing and, in fact, do more of. Of course, using the principles from Chapter 1, Feedback Fundamentals, you will ensure that they are within EARSHOT. You will need to evaluate your staff by both the end results that they deliver and also while they are...

Time to practice


Now you're going to do an exercise to hone your new feedback skills. The WIN model can be applied to both verbal and written feedback, such as when writing an appraisal document.

Note

Make a Note

If your organization uses a formal appraisal template, there will still probably be some space in which to write some free text about how you have assessed and perceived someone's performance over a period of time.

This is exactly what I did with Brian to begin the long and difficult task of changing his behavior and achievements over the coming months.

Take a sheet of A4 paper and divide the page up horizontally into three sections in which to write. The first one is for "W", the second for "I", and the last one for "N". Your task is to write a piece of feedback that you'd like to deliver to one of your team members using the WIN model. You can write these notes to be used in a face-to-face discussion or as typed notes to go into an end of year review. If you are going to use them...

Grown-up appraisals


Appraisals in the workplace are not supposed to be written like school reports to be read by parents!

I physically cringe when I see a professional, grown-up appraisal written in the third person, like this:

"Dave has worked well to hit all of his targets this year…"

The appraisal is meant to stimulate a conversation between you and Dave, not to be read by Dave's Mum or Dad! It's not meant to be written for HR either; performance and results are owned by line management (yes, that's you now!), not anyone else. Please write in the first person!

"You have met or exceeded all of your targets this year…"

Back to Brian


I used this exact structure to deliver Brian's first piece of formal feedback not long after I took ownership of the team.

The initial result?

Brian went absolutely ballistic and told me that he had never heard such rubbish, and that he didn't know how I had been promoted to manager. He stormed out of the room and went home. He'd been allowed to continue with his patterns of behavior for such a long time that he had accepted them as normal.

However:

  • My senior manager told me that he'd support me every step of the way

  • My colleagues patted me on the back and told me it should have happened a long time ago

Start as you mean to go on in this new phase of your career. If you have any people like Brian in your team, please address them immediately, but remember that feedback can be painful for some. Stand your ground and work as hard as possible to keep to the principles illustrated in Chapter 1, Feedback Fundamentals. Data, facts, and evidence can still be uncomfortable to be presented...

Summary


In this chapter, you've learned a valuable new feedback model:

  • What went well

  • Interesting aspects of performance

  • Next time…

It's one that you can use all year round at regular intervals with your staff to let them know what to continue doing and what to change. I've shared the yearly structure that I have repeatedly used to build better performing teams and you've had the chance to practice your new skills by writing down a piece of feedback. You've also met Brian.

Use the following space to capture any reflections that you had while working through the chapter. As a prompt:

  • What can you most readily apply from this chapter?

  • When can you apply it?

  • What skills have you realized that you need to develop while reading?

In the next chapter, you'll meet Kate, who gave me a piece of enduring but puzzling feedback. You'll also learn how to use the BAR feedback model in a more specific performance situation, and I'll share some perspectives that will help ease the more delicate feedback conversations...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

What you will learn

  • Deliver professional and effective reprimands with minimal stress and anxiety Utilize feedback as a method of developing your own skills as a first time manager Learn to use an evidence based approach in your performance discussions Sharpen your language skills to ensure a common understanding of expectations Have the confidence to say what you feel without judging or demotivating your employee Apply subtle psychological tactics that steer your team towards success Create rapid feedback loops that engage the brain quickly while feedback is at its most effective Diplomatically deliver feedback to senior leaders when the stakes are high and tension is present Articulate positive and negative points without triggering a “here it comes” response Balance the use of instructions and questions to engage staff in their own development journey
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Publication date : Jan 10, 2014
Length: 70 pages
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ISBN-13 : 9781783000005

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Length: 70 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783000005

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Table of Contents

6 Chapters
Feedback Fundamentals Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Delivering Balanced Feedback Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Addressing Specific Performance Issues Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Delivering a Reprimand Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Giving Feedback to Colleagues and Managers Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Integrating Your New Skills Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(3 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Fabio Radin Jun 15, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Taken from the book, feedback is "Taking a portion of the output and comparing it with the input to decide whether you are getting what you want out of a system". This book would help you in understanding how important is the feedback your employees could give you, how to ask for it in the best way and how to use it to develop better strategies for raising working performance of a team.The book starts with the description of the seven keys that a manager should always remember when he needs to deliver a feedback (with some examples, important in my opinion!). The next two chapters introduce a management calendar and a couple of frameworks that could be taken as an example when using regularly a feedback model with the team: the WIN model (What went well, Interesting aspects of performance, Next time) and the BAR model (Background, Activity Results). Every model could be use in a different situation where different situations should be managed.Chapter 4 is one of the most important, in my opinion, because it talks about the reprimand feedback. Describing the DESC model (Describe the situation, Express the impact, State what you want to change, Communicate the consequences), is explain how to manage with an employee not reaching a goal or having wrong behaviors. Keep it in mind next time!In the end, last two chapters point your attention on the other side, i.e. giving feedbacks to your manager and how to finalize them in the best way, how to improving the delivery and how to balance feedbacks with encouragements.This book is really light and easy to read. Glenn talks about difficulties that every manager could encounter during a project or inside a team, but with few changes in the approach of giving and getting feedbacks, Glenn suggested a way to get the best performances from the team.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
B&B Jun 04, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Although short, this book shows different styles and techiniques for giving feedback.With a nice and clear language, the author first explains the techinique and then he tells histories about his own experiences to ilustrate how and where it should be used.From positive to negative feedbacks the book is a great start point for new managers learn how to proper give feedbacks.Experienced managers can also have in the book a source to remember and improve the skills for feedback giving.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Troy M. Waters Jun 03, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book was a quick and easy read with very practical information. Although it teaches you how to give feedback in a timely manner, it is structured in a way it could easily be referred to when preparing for a scheduled employee feedback meeting. The author's use of examples from his own work experience, including past mistakes, increased the effectiveness of the learning.I recommend this book to new and experienced supervisors/managers who would like to improve their feedback skills for different situations. The information should be helpful for personal relationships, too.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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