How often in your pharmaceutical career have you gotten feedback that truly made a difference? Performance reviews and evaluations are fraught with emotion—which often makes them the least productive arena for providing feedback. Good managers know that having productive conversations on an ongoing basis ensures that there are no surprises when it comes to review time – and it makes for a happier, more productive workplace.
Most people automatically associate feedback with negative feedback. Because it is rare, positive feedback on a regular basis can be much more impactful over the long run. From a manager’s perspective, positive feedback is much easier to deliver.
Regardless of the type of feedback, below are three tips to make sure the feedback is heard correctly.
Be specific
Feedback is an opportunity for learning. Calling out the specific behavior that was admirable helps the person understand and be able to replicate their behavior. Too often general feedback like “you did a good job” is given. While nice, it doesn’t tell exactly what made their performance “good”. Instead try “the way you handled the meeting—particularly the way you handled Jane’s questions—was excellent. You knew Jane was not on board with our plan and you made her feel heard while not derailing the meeting. Your skill in doing so really demonstrates that you have what it takes to go far in the company.” Not only is this a better situation for learning it demonstrates that you are paying attention to your staff and their behavior.
If you are giving feedback in the context of a performance review it’s important to put the specific ratings you give the person in context. Essentially you want to find a way to normalize the rating system, for instance, “out of all people I’ve seen you’re in top 20%.” This way your specifics are interpreted correctly.
Be timely
In our pressure-packed world it is very easy to delay giving feedback. Not because you don’t want to give it—there is just too much going on. For that very reason it is critical that you provide input as close to the actual event as possible. The farther away you get, the harder it is for the employee to remember exactly what went on, so your feedback becomes less helpful.
Within the performance review itself, you want to set limits on time upfront. For instance, “we have an hour and half for this conversation and if we need to continue we’ll set up additional time.” This way you avoid having an employee parked in your office as they process the content of their review. You also have a built in way to move the conversation along given your hard stop at an hour and a half.
Convey the good news
Positive feedback needs to be communicated to the person themselves as well as others who come in contact with that person. This accomplishes two things: the employee who received the compliment hears it from many sources increasing its credibility and your staff understands that you appreciate them.
Within a performance review, you want to acknowledge important attributes and actions regardless of whether there is a rating system that captures them. Most performance review forms don’t cover so called “soft skills”. Adding a page to the standard form highlighting the employee’s performance against those skills shows their value to the employee and management.
Giving feedback is part of every manager’s job. Handling it gracefully and doing it well can give you an advantage over your competition—and make you a much better boss.
Want to learn more about how to give feedback that makes a difference? Contact Amanda Mitchell, an executive coach who specializes in the healthcare industry amitchell@theokeefegroupusa.com.
