It’s the end of the school year. Some are thrilled and some not so much. It’s like performance reviews given at the end of the year. You can’t go back and change either one. It’s done! You can promise to do better but…..
Why aren’t we giving feedback throughout the year to enable students, teachers, employees, parents, children. partners to do better now? In recent articles about engagement it was found that both constructive and positive feedback throughout the year made a huge difference in engagement. A study showed that 44% of managers are hesitant to give feedback. Makes you wonder why. Are we afraid to give even positive feedback, much less constructive feedback?
What about those mindless customer surveys to evaluate how well the company did? These rarely ask the right questions and often do not have a place for comments. When they do ask is it easier to give anonymous responses? How does that help improve performance? I often wonder if anyone even looks at them and if they do does it lead to any changes? Then there is Yelp; people have written some very caustic evaluations which for some small businesses can be devastating.
There has to be a better way! As a manager or teacher ask questions and allow for responses that will enable better communication resulting in improved performance where all have a chance to succeed. Let others know you are open to feedback about how you do your work and interact. Make the comments meaningful and not offensive,. Focus on behaviors not the person. Think about the benefit to the individual to hear suggestions to enhance their work.
If we must evaluate make it objective, honest and performance focused. Do it often and do it with the intent to help create improvement.
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