FROM THE COACH: When is the best time to give feedback to your employees?

Richard Tyson  

Several years ago, I facilitated a forum of CEOs and other executives in Hawaii. Our topic was “Are Formal Performance Reviews Worth the Trouble?”

I had barely introduced the subject when I made eye contact with a fellow who had an undeniable scowl on his face. Throughout the morning, his expression didn’t change, so I knew he wasn’t buying anything I said.

During our first break, I approached this man and asked him how he was enjoying the forum. It came as no surprise that he said he wasn’t enjoying it all. He firmly asserted that performance reviews were “worse than useless, that they are damn liar sessions!”

I asked him to explain, and he responded that “over the years” he had found that such reviews almost always disintegrated into unwarranted pats-on-the-back for the recipient, failing to address shortfalls in performance. This is done, he said, to avoid the discomfort of saying hard things, so such shortfalls are hardly ever brought to the surface or documented — until they become so egregious that he, as the boss, explodes and starts firing people. And, he concluded, “Then I get sued for wrongful termination!”

The key phrase that caught my attention in this leader’s diatribe was “over the years.” His disgust with performance reviews was absolutely merited, given the process he described using for many years. That process clearly had failed to serve his employees, management or the business.

When we returned to the forum, I decided to use our breaktime conversation as the basis for our ongoing group discussion. What emerged provided implementable insights for virtually everyone in attendance.

While every leader at the table agreed that performance reviews needed to follow a better process than what our disgruntled CEO shared, it posed the question: who has a review system that works — and what is it? After some conversation, one particularly insightful participant spoke up.

He said, “Reviews at my company are a continuous and comfortable process, not only an annual event. Just reviewing things annually really doesn’t imply much day-to-day interest or concern. And it sounds like that using only an annual review process can devolve into a lack of valuable frankness — over the years. Our process is built on having a tight feedback loop of continuous informal reviews that flow naturally into our annual performance evaluations.”

This CEO stressed that their informal reviews allow his key managers to discuss employee performance on a day-to-day, generally unscheduled basis. In these chats, managers are expected to address performance lapses before they become significant, also giving employees real-time opportunities to explain what is happening and to request extra support, if needed. This also provides an opportunity for managers to regularly compliment and encourage their people. Managers are asked to keep a journal of these conversations, and where appropriate, deliver to the employee a follow-up text that gives a brief summary of what was discussed, as well as agreed-upon “next steps.” This also provides valuable documentation for use in the annual formal review.

This fellow admitted that they experienced some challenges when they first implemented the “tight feedback” policy. His managers had to carve out time for wandering around, interacting and journalizing. Employees also were challenged initially, as they were a bit suspicious of the increased attention they were getting. To deal with these concerns, the CEO and his senior leadership team had to carefully, but energetically, explain the intent and the expectations of the new approach.

They had to sell it!

Having done so, and working the process for over more than a year, several valuable outcomes were achieved:

• Problems, whether they were behavioral or operational, were identified and solved more quickly than ever before.
• Relationships between managers and employees improved. Early employee suspicions largely were replaced with a sense of mutual responsibility, respect and friendship. And notably, employee turnover was reduced.
• Formal performance reviews were just that: they were reviews of what had become a continuous dialogue between managers and employees. They became frank, honest and supportive. Hardly any disruptive surprises emerged. They were anything but damned liar sessions.

Productivity and profitability were significantly enhanced.

Because of the wisdom of this Tight Feedback CEO, everyone left the Hawaii forum with a strong answer to the question: “What is the best time to give feedback to your employee?”

That answer is: NOW!!

Richard Tyson is the founder, principal owner and president of CEObuilder, which provides forums for consulting and coaching to executives in small businesses.