Following steps are included in the performance feedback process:
1. Organising Performance Feedback: Performance feedback must be a consistent and anticipated activity of management.
In many organizations, there is a policy or practice of providing performance feedback once a year. However, feedback provided only at one time in a year is not sufficient.
One reason may be that it is the responsibility of superiors to rectify the lack in performance at the moment they take place.
For example, if a problem is observed by the superior in the behavior of an employee in the month of May, but the annual appraisal is programmed in the month of October, the months between May and October in which the employee has the prospect of improvement will be missed by him.
Another reason behind regular performance feedback is that feedback is productive to a greater extent when the information is not surprising for the employee.
If an individual has to wait for a year to know the reactions of the manager regarding his work, then the individual will be in great confusion that whether or not he is fulfilling the expectations.
Instead, feedback should be received by the employees so frequently that they are aware of what will be said by the manager at the performance review.
2. Arranging for a Feedback Session: Superiors must be well- prepared for every session of formal feedback. Correct content should be made by the managers for the meeting.
The location where the meeting is to be held must be neutral. A meeting hall may be more suitable in case the office of the manager is the spot of Unpleasant discussions.
Meeting should be described by the manager as an opportunity to talk over the employee’s role, manager’s role, and the relation among them when declaring the meeting to an employee.
It should also be expressed (and believed) by the managers that an open dialogue meeting would be preferred by them.
The employees should also be made well-prepared by the managers, and they should be asked by the manager for the completion of self-evaluation before the time.
The self-evaluation necessitates employees to have thought over their performance in relation to the previous rating period and be informed about their strong, weak points with the purpose of taking a more active part in the conversation.
Self-evaluation can assist the employees and the manager in recognition of discussion areas, although the employees have a tendency to exaggerate their achievements while self-evaluation.
But in reality, their performances can be understated by employers as the objective of the evaluation is to determine the areas which require development.
A productive area of conversation may also be the variation in the ratings of the employee and the manager.
3. Conducting the Feedback Session: Of the approaches described below, anyone may be adopted by-the manager in the course of the feedback session:
- Tell-and-Sell Approach: This approach is concerned with telling the employees about their ratings and afterward explaining those ratings. ,
- Tell-and-Listen Approach: This approach involves telling the ratings to the employees and allowing them to put forward their viewpoint.
- Problem-Solving Approach: This approach entails working together by employees and managers with an object to resolve the problems of performance in an environment of motivation and respect.
It is not astonishing to say that the problem-solving approach is the best approach as it has also been proved by researchers. But the fact that maximum numbers of managers use the tell-and-sell approach may be astonishing.