Feedback: All about the ratio

Don’t freak there is NO math in this post…

But before I get into feedback ratio’s let me give you some background on why today is a little different on the reMix.

Did you know there are a ton of organizational research resources out there? Even if you don’t have the capability of tracking and analyzing your own data you can still take advantage of research that is out there. That is what I try to do. I read a lot of research and white papers in the hopes of gleaning some practical application for us regular HR pros. Today, I’m writing about it. If you like it I may make this a regular series…so please tell me if you do!

Today, I’m highlighting a blog post from the Harvard Business review that talks about the perfect ratio of positive to negative feedback.

A quick snapshot of their findings (read the entire post here):

After surveying a number of teams, researchers found the highest performing teams were those that provided 5.6 positive feedback comments to every 1 negative comment. Too much positive feedback and team performance is negatively affected; vice versa with negative feedback.

Another interesting finding dealt with leaders who receive negative feedback:

“Specifically, our aggregate data show that three-fourths of those receiving the lowest leadership effectiveness scores who made an effort to improve, rose on average 33 percentile points in their rankings after a year. That is, they were able to move from the 23rd percentile (the middle of the worst) to the 56th percentile (or square in the middle of the pack).”

This is an interesting finding as the authors point out, people who receive the worst feedback have nowhere to go but up:

“A few colleagues have raised their eyebrows when we’ve noted this because we’re strongly in the camp that proposes that leaders work on their strengths. How do we reconcile these seemingly contrary perspectives? Simple: the people who get the most negative feedback have the most room to grow. It’s far harder for someone at the 90th percentile already to improve so much.”

So this is great info but how can we apply it every day at work? Read on for some of my suggestions and make sure to drop a line in the comments with your own thoughts on how we can use this info.

1. Negative feedback is good. Often we shy away from giving negative feedback because we are afraid to hurt feelings or we think if we praise good stuff the bad performers will get the message (they won’t). Here is strong evidence that constructive negative criticism can be helpful, especially when we save it for situations where someone or their project/team has truly gone wrong off the rails.

2. All kinds of problems come with only giving positive feedback. If you only give positive feedback team mates are less likely to take your praise seriously because you never differentiate between what is status quo and what is truly great. Don’t shy away from negative feedback but give it at the right time (see number one above). The research shows to much positive feedback is just as bad as too much negative feedback.

3. Keep it in proportion. How on earth can we make sure we are proportionate with our feedback? I am a big fan of diaries. Not long “Dear Diary” entries. I’m more concerned with building awareness. I’ve done this twice before and each time it has helped me build awareness around my behavior (what I eat and what I spend my time doing). You don’t need to keep them forever but the idea is to make yourself aware of your actions. When you start tracking stuff this happens pretty quickly.

What about you? What are your thoughts on positive and negative feedback? How would you take the above research and apply it? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Melissa Fairman in leadership Leave a comment

The Blog Redesigned

If you read this blog through an RSS reader, please take a moment to hit up the reMix directly…because today the re-designed HR remix launches. I didn’t do this all on my own so if you like what you see, let me know and I can refer you to the awesome web developer who helped me out.

Among the many benefits/changes:

1. You can now see when people actually comment on my posts…before that it was barely discernible because of the candy cane stripes in the background

2. Speaking of comments…you can now happily comment away without seeing annoying //// in your comments

3. A very simple interface designed to highlight content and not distract you with stripes and bright color

4. A contact form – so excited about this one. I was tired of writing “Email Me” everywhere, now the contact form is easily available. Use it to reach out to me!

5. I also took a few minutes to update my about me page (now titled About HR reMix) and the resources page – check them out!

Well I wouldn’t be a good HR peep if I didn’t solicit a little feedback. Hit up the site and let me know what you think about it. Like it? Love it? Hate it? I wanna hear it!

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Melissa Fairman in blogging 5 Comments

Feedback

Incompetent? You probably don’t even know it

I recently read an excellent post over at Psyblog that detailed some compelling research into people who are incompetent. The Dunning-Kruger Effect (named after the researchers), basically found that poor performers are the least aware of their own poor performance because they fail to learn from their mistakes.

One suggested solution is better feedback: timely and relevant probably being a good place to start. But as the author points out your poor performer has probably been hearing bad feedback their entire career and just blocks it out now.

On the flip side people with real abilities tend to underestimate their own abilities.

So this presents a couple issues for HR doesn’t it? Based on the above it sounds as if feedback really doesn’t improve performance. Do we put our feedback training out to pasture?

No and here’s why:

1. What kind of feedback are you giving a poor performer? Truly good feedback is a rarity in the world…I’m not saying it doesn’t exist but we all know it’s a rare creature. Why? Because it’s hard to sit across from another adult and tell them in a professional way that they have screwed up. By the time the message is actually spoken it can be completely watered down and without the weight it needed to be.

2. What about the truly competent people? In this case we have the opposite effect. Instead of giving watered down feedback, the competent people just don’t get any feedback. After all, if you aren’t complaining, or jumping down their throat your employees “know” they are doing a good job. Right….

3. Here’s a different idea: How about fit? Maybe the person you think is incompetent just isn’t cut out to be a sales person? Maybe their excellent interpersonal and creative skills would be a better fit for the marketing or PR department? I’m not suggesting you try to transfer all your poor performers to another department but before you fire them, think past the performance issues to determine what they are good at and if there is a fit elsewhere in the company.

What do you think? Should we give up hope and fire all the incompetent people in the world? Give up on feedback? Tell me what you think in the notes.

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Melissa Fairman in Performance Management 2 Comments

Guest Post Monday

Today you can find me writing over at PerformanceIcreate. I’m talking about performance management and all the things we try to do to “fix” it. Here is a quick teaser:

Some companies choose a more moderate path and decide that the latest and greatest TMS is the answer. Then they are shocked when they still need to chase people down to complete performance appraisals and still see the same meager answers in the boxes. Here is a newsflash: just because you’ve wrapped up the process in the latest technology doesn’t mean it’s part of your culture.

Go check out the rest at PerformanceIcreate!

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Melissa Fairman in Guest Posts Leave a comment

Engagement, Retention and Performance Appraisals

Time for your annual review…Today I am hosting a guest post from Sean Conrad of Halogen Software. Don’t worry, this is NOT a post extolling the virtues of Halogen Software, instead Sean is talking today about employee engagement and the performance management process. Take a read below and let me know what you think.

I’ve been wondering…

I’ve been reading a lot lately about strategies to improve employee engagement and retention. And I seem to keep coming up against the same stuff.

People want feedback, they want direction or goals, they want development opportunities, they want to be recognized and rewarded, they want to feel they’re contributing to their organization, they want a good relationship with their manager.

Without these things, they become disengaged. Or when the opportunity comes up, they leave.

Now at the same time, I’ve been seeing a number of articles and blogs that bash employee performance appraisals, saying they’re ineffective, demoralizing, time-wasters, archaic, etc.

But aren’t performance appraisals supposed to give employees feedback, direction, development and recognition? Aren’t they supposed to promote dialogue between managers and employees?

Is the problem that performance appraisals are bad or that we do them badly?

Maybe people hate them because we tend to focus on the ratings and rakings too much. Maybe it’s because we focus too much on giving the employee feedback on the times they slipped up and fixing the problems rather than focusing on all the great things they did and encouraging more. Maybe it’s because we forget to focus on development and career progression. Maybe it’s because we forget that performance management is supposed to be an ongoing, two-way dialogue between managers and employees, and instead make this once a year event.

If we do away with performance appraisals altogether, as many are suggesting, how will we meet our employees’ needs relative to engagement and retention? Any ideas?

Sean Conrad is a Certified Human Capital Strategist and Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software. You can read more of his musing on HR and talent management best-practices on the Halogen Software blog.