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Guest post by: Glenn Ebersole Become an Author

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One of the most critical activities of a coach, mentor, supervisor or anyone that oversees the work of others is to provide feedback to let them know, in a timely and ongoing way, how they are performing. People committed to continuous improvement will always welcome the opportunity to discuss their strengths and areas for improvement in their performance. The feedback given must encourage self-reflection, raise self-awareness and help the person look toward his or her personal vision.
Performance feedback may be formal or informal. Traditionally, formal feedback is planned as part of a performance appraisal and includes an assessment of how the person is progressing toward meeting his or her goals. Some of the most important things to remember in these appraisals and assessments are:

+ scheduling a specific meeting time and allowing adequate time for the review.
+ confirming that the person has clearly defined goals and measurable outcomes to review
+ ensuring that the reviewer has had direct observation of the person being reviewed
+ ensuring that the reviewer has skills in giving positive and negative

Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach has some advice for those of you that do performance reviews. Here are ten (10) tips to help you achieve a productive and powerful feedback system with people you coach, mentor and/or supervise.

1. Commit to always doing timely reviews of performance. It is critically important to give feedback soon after an event and as regularly as possible, rather than one each year at a formal appraisal.

2. Avoid giving feedback at times when you or the person being reviewed are tired or emotionally charged.

3. Always be specific. People want and need specifics, rather than a general statement of “overall, you are doing fine,” which Is basically meaningless.

4. Always be constructive. Your role is to coach, mentor & teach the person by guiding he or she to solutions for areas of weakness. A positive critique, which focuses on “what can be improved” rather than “what is wrong”, is a much more effective and encourages the person to look for solutions to improve.

5. Always conduct your review meeting in an appropriate setting. Constructive criticism should be given in private (e.g. ideal settings can be in an office or some neutral territory where you are undisturbed). Phones should be off the hook, cell phones and pagers must be turned off.

6. Provide adequate time for the person being reviewed to share their comments on the fairness of the feedback and to provide explanations.

7. Always engage in active listening and hearing to ensure an understanding of what is being said by the person you are speaking with and sharing feedback.

8. Always focus on the positive. Avoid jokes or personal remarks and remember to concentrate on the act or behavior, not the person. Never diminish positive feedback by qualifying it with a negative statement (“I was very pleased with your report to the board, BUT ……..).

9. Decide what specific actions must be done as a result of the feedback session and document a plan of action to accomplish the tasks.

10. Follow-up with the person you gave feedback to in order ensure action is being taken on the needed tasks.

Your strategic thinking business coach encourages you to use strategic thinking in all the performance appraisals and reviews that you do and to follow the above advice whenever you meet with someone to provide performance feedback or any other feedback. If you would like to learn more about how to develop strategically planned feedback and how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com



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