At the end of the year, feedback is traditionally a hot topic. Feedback enhances learning and can significantly improve performance within the organization. Make a good start in 2016 with the following tips.
#1. Give employees control
75% of employees want to control over their own development (Raet Benchmark 2016). Give the employees the possibility to ask for feedback themselves. Let the employee decide to whom he asks for feedback and when. Getting feedback can appear threatening at first, but when employees themselves have control over it is easier to choose someone they trust and to be open and honest. The employee will see the benefits of feedback, it will feel less threatening and as a result, they will be more willing to ask for feedback to someone that is further away from them.
#2. Digitalize your HR
46% of employees believe that e-HRM allows them to handle HR issues fast and easy (Raet Benchmark 2016). Give the employees therefore access to their digital files and make them co-responsible for building them. One of the biggest stumbling blocks of appraisals is that it takes too much administration and time. e-HRM can counter issues like this.
#3. Introduce feedback at all levels of the organization
Management need to show that the whole organization stands behind a feedback culture. For this, they need to not only communicate openly and transparently with the employee, it is also important that management proves to be open to feedback. Managers should ask for feedback from employees, analyze the results and report these results back to the employee. This makes it clear that receiving feedback is not a threat and that you, as a serious organization, stand behind it.
#4. Useful feedback can also come from colleagues
Research by Oracle (September 2015) shows that employees feel most involved in the business because of their direct colleagues. 48% of respondents from the BeNeLux indicate that their sense of belonging in the workplace is determined by colleagues. It is therefore logical for the employee to get feedback from those colleagues. Feedback works best for someone who is close to you and works daily along with you.
# 5. Provide frequent feedback
Feedback is especially useful if it is given more than once. This is the result of a survey among medical professionals in 2012. The best results are obtained when feedback is given more than once a month. This has several logical reasons. As Cindy Vissers of VissersHR indicates: “a football coach won’t wait for the end of the year to give feedback. The effect of feedback is greatest during or immediately after the match.”
# 6. Use the right tools
A feedback culture is not created through word-forms or by a manager who manages to get a snapshot about the status of the organization via a survey tool only he can access. At TruQu we ensure that feedback is easy, measurable and targeted. This allows anyone in the organization to ask for feedback throughout the whole year, to learn from it and to grow. This way the organization wil learn and develop together with its employees.
Visit the TruQu website for more information
Sources: http://www.raet.nl/hr-trends-en-themas/hr-benchmark https://go.oracle.com/LP=20859 http://vissershr.nl/12-redenen-1/ *This article is translated from Dutch. Hence the sources for this article are written in Dutch
