How can employees be held accountable for their own actions and performance? How can employees be motivated to improve their own performance? A big part of the secret lies in providing regular feedback.
Let’s face it. Feedback has a bad reputation. How many leaders and managers squirm at the thought of a frank two-way performance discussion with a potentially defensive employee – not to mention the associated time and resource implications. However, research demands that we recognise the ineffectiveness of traditional compensation and reward mechanisms in motivating employee performance and accountability. The bottom line is that regular, constructive feedback and follow through are the keys.
Feedback is simply communication, so it’s time we re-framed its place in our working lives as an opportunity rather than a pariah. A regular review that is not linked to compensation could serve as an opportunity to align work goals and to discuss motivational issues – by regular we are talking daily, weekly or fortnightly. For team leaders and managers, it provides an opportunity to correct poor behaviour, to tune into employees and to resolve motivation and accountability issues before anything gets out of hand. Perhaps there is a simple fix that could transform a poor performing individual into a devoted disciple. For example, an employee may be struggling with family responsibilities, and a flexible work arrangement might provide a work-life balance that relieves substantial stress.
A study by Frederik Anseel and Filip Lievens of Ghent University that was presented at the 2004 Annual Conference for the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology in Chicago, explains that many individuals actively seek out feedback for themselves. This is especially true for those with a high learning-goal orientation. Doing so provides them with the opportunity to re-orient personal goals, to better manage their careers, to gain a sense of control and to improve their self-efficacy and self-esteem. What’s more, an article in “Forbes” by Sebastian Bailey, dated June 25, 2012, suggests that employees will devote more time and energy to tasks that provide the most feedback, perhaps in an effort toward self-improvement.
Marketers have long been aware of the addictive nature that feedback can provide. Many websites provide an opportunity for visitors to interact with the site and to receive immediate feedback. This feedback stimulates activity in the brain that encourages the visitor to remember the site for future visits. This psychological marketing is called “gamification”. As a leader, consider re-framing the stigma that feedback is a negative experience, instead embracing feedback as an opportunity for positive and constructive interactions. It is likely that responding to employee desire for regular feedback may result in a happier, more productive workforce, and keep them coming back for more.
Resources:
Feedback, feedforward and follow through from Accountability Leadership (Di Worrall) 2013
A Within Person Perspective on Feedback Seeking About Task Performance
Forbes: Feedback: The Magic Bullet For Performance When Resources Are Scarce
