Grow performance feedback hungry individuals

Help your employees master the art of processing and acting on performance feedback

After many years of watching organizations struggle to get performance management — and more specifically, employee performance feedback — right, we decided to seek out a radically different perspective by interviewing 67 top-flight performers in fields ranging from theatre, film and TV to medicine and emergency services.

The brave new world they revealed to us is one in which effective performance feedback is part of everyday life, with informed observers sharing regular, actionable insights on individual and team performance.

In our previous article, we looked at how organizations can turn their leaders into expert feedback givers. But for the system to work, you need effective feedback receivers, as well. The good news is that receivers — like givers — are made, not born. In this article, we outline some of the steps organizations can take to help employees develop the capabilities and mindsets they need when leading performance conversations.

Normalize feedback early on

Like most things, dealing with feedback gets easier the more you do it. So, the earlier people in your organization start receiving feedback more regularly, the bigger the impact will be on their long-term performance and careers. As one of our research participants, Kelsey Moriarty, explains:

“Early on, I associated feedback with criticism. When I heard that word, I’d think I’d [done something] wrong. I think it’s important to get that muscle of hearing feedback [working] during that formative time.” - Kelsey Moriarty, Assistant Director, Advancement Services, Public Theater, NYC

One important step organizations can take to normalize employee performance feedback is to replace quarterly and annual reviews with a cycle linked to the rhythm of each person’s work, whether it is project-based, goal-based or time-based. It is also worth having dedicated reflection points and feedback moments, for example at the beginning or end of weekly project meetings.

Build resilience

Performance feedback, whether positive or negative, is a form of adversity. And, as the quote above clearly illustrates, all of us need practice and experience at receiving feedback before we can develop the resilience to cope. Until then, we are likely to meet it with a typical fight-or-flight response, whether it’s tears, hostility or throwing in the towel.

In their book, The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles, Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatté identify the core elements of resilience, all of which can be taught, learned and improved. They are:

1. Emotional regulation – staying calm under pressure, being aware of and managing emotions, and using emotions to guide decision-making when appropriate
2. Impulse control – shutting out distraction and restraining immediate reactions
3. Causal analysis – comprehensively and accurately identifying the causes of a problem
4. Self-efficacy – conveying ideas and solutions in an assured manner
5. Realistic optimism – believing that things can change for the better
6. Empathy – reading and understanding others
7. Reaching out – seeking out new opportunities, challenges, and relationships

“The first class I ever did I left in tears after about five minutes because of the screaming and the overload of information. What is strange is that I had seen the way that the coach had delivered the classes and I enjoyed watching them, but when I was on the receiving end, I was really quite thrown. I cried and ran off. She eventually came up and got me and she was actually very nice. It wasn’t that she was being horrible. It was just the force of who is delivering it.” - Alexander Campbell, Principal Dancer, Royal Ballet

Make performance feedback collaborative

Time and again in our research conversations, we heard feedback being described as a two-way process. The people who are being “performance managed” in this process do not simply receive feedback — they seek it out and own it.

As actor, comedian and writer, Neil Mullarkey, explains: “Actors see feedback as development. They want to receive it regularly. They see rehearsals as a ‘laboratory’ where they act on feedback.”

When receivers (and givers) enter performance feedback conversations with this mindset, the experience becomes more collaborative and constructive — a problem-solving conversation in which both parties have responsibility for shifting performance.

Organizations and leaders can play their part by encouraging employees to take personal accountability for feedback and giving them the autonomy they need to act. Given that only 50 percent of UK employees feel satisfied with the level of voice they have in decisions that affect them, this is an area that many companies may need to work on.

Help employees develop self-awareness

When we assessed the elite performers who participated in our research, we discovered that they showed remarkably high levels of self-awareness, averaging in the top percentile when compared to Korn Ferry’s internal leadership benchmark. Our hypothesis is that this high level of self-awareness is developed, at least in part, through the self-discovery style of performance feedback that professionals in fields such as sport and the arts engage in from a young age.

The benefit of having heightened self-awareness is twofold. First, it helps you process and act on feedback you receive from others more effectively. Second, it enables you to assess your own performance more objectively and with greater insight.

Recent research shows that self-awareness can be broken down into internal (clearly seeing our own values, passions, aspirations and reactions) and external (understanding how others see us). To create a truly effective feedback culture in your organization, you need to help employees develop both elements from an early stage in their careers.