Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas – Entrepreneur’s Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.
As we start the New Year, we find at many of our clients and businesses that January is usually a time of employee annual reviews and performance feedback. One of the items noted by employees at high achieving organizations is the environment in which they work. Highly successful companies achieve very high scores in the feedback assessment processes by their employees. Which raises the question: “Where would my organization rank on such an assessment?”
To the following question: “What type of workplace fosters the creation of exceptional sustainable value?” Some of the answers gathered by Marcus Buckingham in his book, First Break All the Rules, include the following subset from over 1,000,000 surveys:
• Do I know what is expected of me at work?
• Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
• In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• Does my supervisor or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
• In the last six months has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
In the book Conscious Business I learned that feedback is actually a mutual learning opportunity. In providing feedback I try to:
• Recognize that the intent behind feedback is learning and development (vs. criticism)
• I provide broad context, both positive areas and areas that I am concerned about
• I try and focus on effectiveness gaps and not personal traits
• Be timely and convey both positive and constructive feedback
In receiving feedback, I try and remember the following:
• Be learner, do I love the truth more than I love my face?
• The person giving my feedback is supporting my development.
• I take responsibility for the feedback, and my role in the gap of my performance
• I use effective inquiry to understand, not defend myself
If your environment is creating exceptional sustainable value in the area of Giving Feedback, you will be surpassing your competition in this challenging market place.