Merlin B Joseph, Asst. Prof.

, BIMS PM

Module 2
Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal is a systematic process of evaluating the performance of
employees, sharing that information with them & searching for ways to improve
their performance.”

Which means.....
● Employees should be made aware of appraisal process, what is evaluated & how
often.
● A key factor in the success of Performance Appraisal is Employee Involvement.
● Performance must be based on the standards that are developed and agreed upon
by the appraiser and employee.
● PA should be considered as a positive way to get employees involved.
● PA is done by superiors, or professionals from outside

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

● To improve the organisational & employee performance.
● Provides a basis for promotions, salary increases, counseling, training and other
purposes related to employee’s future by letting them know how they are doing.
● PA should point out strengths & weaknesses as well as how performance can be
improved.

Significance or Importance of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal provides important and useful information for the assessment of
employee's skill, knowledge, ability and overall job performance.
1. Performance appraisal helps supervisors to assess the work performance of their
subordinates.
2. Performance appraisal helps to assess the training and development needs of
employees.
3. Performance appraisal provides grounds for employees to correct their mistakes, and
it also provides proper guidance and criticism for employee's development.

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4. Performance appraisal provides reward for better performance.

5. Performance appraisal helps to improve the communication system of the
organization
6. Performance appraisal evaluates whether human resource programs being
implemented in the organization have been effective.
7. Performance appraisal helps to prepare pay structure for each employee working in
the organization.
8. Performance appraisal helps to review the potentiality of employees so that their
future capability is anticipated..

Advantages of Performance appraisal

The main advantages or importance of performance appraisal are :-
1. Performance Feedback
Most employees are very interested in knowing how well they are doing at present and
how they can do better in a future. They want this information to improve their
performance in order to get promotions and merit pay. Proper performance feedback
can improve the employee's future performance. It also gives him satisfaction and
motivation.

2. Employee Training and Development Decisions

Performance Appraisal information is used to find out whether an employee requires
additional training and development. Deficiencies in performance may be due to
inadequate knowledge or skills. For e.g. A professor may improve his efficiency by
attending workshops or seminars about his subject. Performance appraisal helps a
manager to find out whether he needs additional training for improving his current job
performance. Similarly, if the performance appraisal results show that he can perform
well in a higher position, then he is given training for the higher level position.

3. Validation of Selection Process

Performance appraisal is a means of validating both internal (promotions and transfers)
and external (hiring new employees from outside) sources. Organisations spend a lot of

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time and money for recruiting and selecting employees. Various tools used in the
selection process are application blanks, interviews, psychological tests, etc. These tools
are used to predict (guess) the candidate's performance on the job. A proper
performance appraisal finds out the validity of the various selection tools and so the
company can follow suitable steps for selecting employees in future.

4. Promotions
Performance appraisal is a way of finding out which employee should be given a
promotion. Past appraisals, together with other background data, will enable
management to select proper persons for promotion.

5. Transfers
Performance appraisal is also useful for taking transfer decisions. Transfers often
involve changes in job responsibilities, and it is important to find out the employees who
can take these responsibilities. Such identification of employees who can be transferred
is possible through the performance appraisal.

6. Layoff Decisions
Performance appraisal is a good way of taking layoff decisions. Employees may be asked
to lay off, if the need arises. The weakest performers are the first to be laid off. If there is
no performance appraisal, then there are chances that the best men in the department
may be laid off.

7. Compensation Decisions
Performance appraisal can be used to compensate the employees by increasing their pay
and other incentives. This is truer in the case of managerial jobs and also in the case of
employees in non-unionized organisations. The better performances are rewarded with
merit pay.

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8. Human Resource Planning (HRP)

The appraisal process helps in human resource planning (HRP). Accurate and current
appraisal data regarding certain employees helps the management in talking decisions
for future employment. Without the knowledge of who is capable of being promoted,
demoted, transferred, laid off or terminated, management cannot make employment
plans for the future.

9. Career Development
Performance appraisal also enables managers to coach and counsel employees in their
career development.

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1.Establishing performance standards

The first step in the process of performance appraisal is the setting up of the standards
which will be used as the base to compare the actual performance of the employees. This
step requires setting the criteria to judge the performance of the employees as successful
or unsuccessful and the degrees of their contribution to the organizational goals and
objectives. The standards set should be clear, easily understandable and in measurable
terms. In case the performance of the employee cannot be measured, great care should
be taken to describe the standards.

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2.Communicating the standards

Once set, it is the responsibility of the management to communicate the standards to all
the employees of the organization. The employees should be informed and the standards
should be clearly explained to the employees. This will help them to understand their
roles and to know what exactly is expected from them. The standards should also be
communicated to the appraisers or the evaluators and if required, the standards can also
be modified at this stage itself according to the relevant feedback from the employees or
the evaluators.

3.Measuring the actual performance

The most difficult part of the Performance appraisal process is measuring the actual
performance of the employees that is the work done by the employees during the
specified period of time. It is a continuous process which involves monitoring the
performance throughout the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the
appropriate techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias does not affect
the outcome of the process and providing assistance rather than interfering in an
employees work. There are many methods to measure the performances of the
employees.

4.Comparing actual performance with desired performance

The actual performance is compared with the desired or the standard performance. The
comparison tells the deviations in the performance of the employees from the standards
set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired
performance or, the actual performance being less than the desired performance
depicting a negative deviation in the organizational performance. It includes recalling,
evaluating and analysis of data related to the employees’ performance.

5.Identifying the gaps and Discussing results [Feedback]

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Consider the required performance standards and compare these requirements to the
actual performance of the team member in the role. If the individual is not yet achieving
the required standard a performance gap exists. Where a gap exists, you must work with
the team to correct it.

The result of the appraisal is communicated and discussed with the employees on
one-to-one basis. The focus of this discussion is on communication and listening. The
results, the problems and the possible solutions are discussed with the aim of problem
solving and reaching consensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude as
this can have an effect on the employees’ future performance. Performance appraisal
feedback by managers should be in such way helpful to correct mistakes done by the
employees and help them to motivate for better performance but not to demotivate.
Performance feedback task should be handled very carefully as it may leads to emotional
outburst if it is not handing properly. Sometimes employees should be prepared before
giving them feedback as it may be received positively or negatively depending upon the
nature and attitude of employees.

6.Decision-making
The purpose of conducting employee performance appraisal is for making decisions
about employees without any bias by the HR manager. Decision-making by HR
managers about employees rewarding, promotions, demotions, transfers and sometimes
suspensions/dismissal of employees are depended upon the employee performance
appraisal. The decision taken by HR manager should match exactly with performance

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appraisal results of employees to avoid grievance or disturbances in between them, as

they affect overall performance of the organisation.

Traditional methods of Performance Appraisal

1. Essay Appraisal Method

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This traditional form of appraisal, also known as "Free Form method" involves a
description of the performance of an employee by his superior. The description is an
evaluation of the performance of any individual based on the facts and often includes
examples and evidences to support the information. A major drawback of the method is
the inseparability of the bias of the evaluator.

This technique is normally used with a combination of the graphic rating scale because
the rater can elaborately present the scale by substantiating an explanation for his
rating. While preparing the essay on the employee, the rater considers the following
factors:
· Job knowledge and potential of the employee;
· Employee’s understanding of the company’s programmes, policies, objectives, etc.;
· The employee’s relations with co-workers and superiors;
· The employee’s general planning, organizing and controlling ability;
· The attitudes and perceptions of the employee, in general.

Essay evaluation is a non-quantitative technique. This method is advantageous in at

least one sense, i.e., the essay provides a good deal of information about the employee
and also reveals more about the evaluator.

The essay evaluation method however, suffers from the following

limitations:
· It is highly subjective; the supervisor may write a biased essay. The employees
who are sycophants will be evaluated more favorably then other employees.
· Some evaluators may be poor in writing essays on employee performance.
Others may be superficial in explanation and use flowery language which may not
reflect the actual performance of the employee. It is very difficult to find effective
writers nowadays.
· The appraiser is required to find time to prepare the essay. A busy appraiser
may write the essay hurriedly without properly assessing the actual performance of
the worker. On the other hand, appraiser takes a long time, this becomes

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uneconomical from the view point of the firm, because the time of the evaluator
(supervisor) is costly.

2. Straight Ranking Method

This is one of the oldest and simplest techniques of performance appraisal. In this
method, the appraiser ranks the employees from the best to the poorest on the basis of
their overall performance. It is quite useful for a comparative evaluation.

3. Paired Comparison
A better technique of comparison than the straight ranking method, this method
compares each employee with all others in the group, one at a time. After all the
comparisons on the basis of the overall comparisons, the employees are given the final
rankings. This is a time consuming method.

4. Critical Incidents Methods

In this method of Performance appraisal, the evaluator rates the employee on the basis
of critical events and how the employee behaved during those incidents. It includes both
negative and positive points. The drawback of this method is that the supervisor has to
note down the critical incidents and the employee behaviour as and when they occur.

5. Checklist Method
The rater is given a checklist of the descriptions of the behaviour of the employees on
job. The checklist contains a list of statements on the basis of which the rater describes
the on the job performance of the employees

6. Confidential Report System

Confidential report system is well known method of performance appraisal system
mostly being used by the the Government organisations. In this method of appraising
system, subordinate is observed by his superiors regarding his performance in the job

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and on his duties done. Thereafter Superior writes confidential report on his
performance, mainly on his behaviour in the organisation and conduct and remarks if
any. Confidential reports will be kept confidential and will not be revealed to anyone
and finally confidential reports will be forwarded to the top management officials for
taking decision against person on whom confidential report has made. Confidential
reports are the main criteria for promoting or transferring of any employee mainly
in the government sector. All governmental organisations example judiciary, police
Department and other government departments in the India are using confidential
reports method as a tool to know about the employee and to take any decision
connecting to him.

Key factors assessed in Confidential Report writing

● Character and conduct of an employee
● Absenteeism of an employee
● Knowledge of an employee
● His nature and quality of work
● Punctuality of employee
● Unauthorised absenteeism or leave without permission
● Behaviour of an employee with colleagues, superiors and with public
● Ability of supervision and controlling
● His/her integrity and honesty
● If any complaints against employee

Modern Methods of Performance Appraisal

1. Assessment Centres

An assessment centre typically involves the use of methods like social/informal events,
tests and exercises, assignments being given to a group of employees to assess their
competencies to take higher responsibilities in the future. Generally, employees are
given an assignment similar to the job they would be expected to perform if promoted.

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The trained evaluators observe and evaluate employees as they perform the assigned
jobs and are evaluated on job related characteristics.

The major competencies that are judged in assessment centres are interpersonal skills,
intellectual capability, planning and organizing capabilities, motivation, career
orientation etc. assessment centres are also an effective way to determine the training
and development needs of the targeted employees.

2. Management By Objectives Appraisal Method

The concept of Management by Objectives’(MBO) was first given by Peter Drucker in

1954. It can be defined as a process whereby the employees and the superiors come
together to identify common goals, the employees set their goals to be achieved, the
standards to be taken as the criteria for measurement of their performance and
contribution and deciding the course of action to be followed.

The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision
making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the
employee’s actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees
themselves have been involved with the goal setting and the choosing the course of
action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities.

he principle behind Management by Objectives (MBO) is to create empowered

employees who have clarity of the roles and responsibilities expected from them,
understand their objectives to be achieved and thus help in the achievement of
organizational as well as personal goals.

3. Behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS):

This method combines the graphic rating scale and the critical incident method. It
determines in advance the critical areas of the performance and the most effective

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behaviour to achieve the results. Then the actual job behaviour of an employee is
evaluated against the predetermined behaviour.

The following steps are used for constructing BARS.

1. Supervisor and other persons well acquainted with a job are asked to describe specific
critical incidence of effective performance behaviour

2. Then these persons categorized the incidents into sets of performance dimensions
and each set is then defined.

3. These people then reallocate the original critical incidents. They are given the cluster
definition and critical incidents and are asked to re-design each incident to the
dimensions that describes it the best. A critical incidents is retain only a some
percentage that is usually between 50 – 80 percent of this group assigns the incidents to
the same cluster as was done by the earlier group.

4. The second group then rates each incident on a 7 – 9 point scale where the rating is
done on the basis of how well the behavior described in the incidents represented the
performance on the appropriate dimensions.

5. A sub set of incidents is used as behavior anchors for the performance dimensions.

An Example of Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

Performance Point Behavior

s

Extremely 7 Can expect trainee to make valuable suggestions for

good increased sales and to have positive relationships with
customers all over the country.

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Good 6 Can expect to initiate creative ideas for improved sales.

Above average 5 Can expect to keep in touch with the customers throughout
the year.

Average 4 Can manage, with difficulty, to deliver the goods in time.

Below average 3 Can expect to unload the trucks when asked by the
supervisor.

Poor 2 Can expect to inform only a part of the customers.

Extremely 1 Can expect to take extended coffee breaks and roam around
poor purposelessly.

4. The 360 degree appraisal:

The 360 degree method of performance appraisal is used to make the appraisal process
more transparent, objective and participative.

It introduced the concepts of self appraisa,l subordinates appraisal, peer appraisal,

superiors appraisal and appraisal by customers. It is called a 360 degree method because
it involves the evaluation of an employee by persons above him, below him and alongside
him. Structured questionnaires are used to collect information from the seniors,
subordinates and peers. The employee to be evaluated thus acquires a central position
and everyone around him participates in the appraisal process in the 360 degree method.

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The following four are the main components of 360 degree appraisal :

Self appraisal: It allows an employee complete freedom in accessing his or her

strengths objectively and identifying the areas of development. The employees get a
chance to share the development areas with their seniors based on their self appraisal
and jointly worked out a plan in tune with the organizational realities like the
availability of resources and time. It also gives a chance to the employee to express his
career plans which is in the interest of the organization as it knows beforehand the
aspirations of its employee.

Appraisal by superiors: An appraisal by superiors involves providing constructive,

feedback about the performance of any employee as well as his development areas
during the review period. It helps in setting goals for the employees that help in achieve
the organizational goals and improve the performance of the employee. The career
aspirations of an employee are also put in proper prospective.

Appraisal by subordinates: This is a unique feature of the 360 degree method of

appraisal. As the subordinates play an important role in the performance of the
employee. The feedback by the subordinates gives firsthand account of how they look at

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their superior in terms of working style. The capability of a superior in motivating,

delegating the work, building a team and communicating with them effectively form the
basis of appraisal by the subordinates.

Peer appraisal: It also plays an important role in 360 degree appraisal as the role of
peers is quite important in life of an employee. Selecting the right peers is very
important and peers from the departments that are directly related with the department
of the employee should also be included. It mainly focuses on feedback about the style of
functioning of the employee under review and can also include his ability to work as
team leader besides his co-operation and collaboration.

5. Human Resource Accounting Method

Human Resource Accounting is a process of identifying and measuring data about

human resources. Human resource accounting is accounting for people as an
organizational resource. It involves measuring the costs incurred by business firms and
other organizations to recruit, select, hire, train and develop human assets. It also
involves measuring the economic value of people to the organization. Human resources
are valuable assets for every organization. Human resource accounting method tries to
find the relative worth of these assets in the terms of money. In this method the
Performance appraisal of the employees is judged in terms of cost and contribution of
the employees. The cost of employees include all the expenses incurred on them like
their compensation, recruitment and selection costs, induction and training costs etc
whereas their contribution includes the total value added (in monetary terms). The
difference between the cost and the contribution will be the performance of the
employees. Ideally, the contribution of the employees should be greater than the cost
incurred on them.

6. Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard is a performance based metric which companies used for strategic
management. It improves the internal functions and external results of the business.

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The balanced scorecard is used to reinforce good behavior in an organization by

isolating four separate areas that need to be analyzed. A balanced approach to employee
performance appraisal is an effective way of getting a complete look at an employee's
work performance,

1. Learning and growth are analyzed through the investigation of training and
knowledge resources. I.e How well information is captured and how effectively
employees utilize the information to convert it to a competitive advantage over
the industry.
2. Business processes are evaluated by investigating how well the employee
contributes to the various processes in the organisation. Operational
management is analyzed to track any gaps, delays, bottlenecks, shortages, or
waste.
3. Customer perspectives are collected to gauge customer satisfaction with
quality, price, and availability of products or services. Customers provide
feedback about their satisfaction with current products/employees.
4. Financial data such as sales, expenditures, and income are used to understand
financial performance. These financial metrics may include dollar amounts,
financial ratios, budget variances, or income targets.

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 Merlin B Joseph, Asst. Prof., BIMS PM

Potential Appraisal
Potential can be defined as ‘a latent but unrealised ability’. Potential includes the
possible knowledge, skills, and attitudes the employee may possess for better
performance. There are many people who have the desire and potential to advance
through the job they are in and wanting the opportunity to operate at a higher level of
competence in the same type of work.

The purposes of a potential appraisal are:

● to inform employees of their future prospects

● to enable the organisation to draft a management succession programme;
● to update training and recruitment activities;
● to advise employees about the work to be done to enhance their career
Opportunities

Objectives :

One of the important objectives of potential appraisal is to help employees to move

upwards in the organization

The advantages of a thoroughly carried out potential appraisal are:

● The organizations are able to identify individuals who can take higher
responsibilities.
● It also conveys the message that people are not working in dead-end jobs in the
organization.

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● The identification of employee potential to ensure the availability of people to do

different jobs helps to motivate employees in addition to serving organisational
needs.

Techniques of potential appraisal:

1. Self – appraisals
2. Peer appraisals
3. Superior appraisals
4. MBO
5. Psychological and psychometric tests
6. Management games like role playing
7. Leadership exercises etc.

Steps of Potential Appraisal

1. Role Description: A good potential appraisal system would be based on clarity

of roles and functions associated with the different roles in an organisation. This
requires extensive job descriptions to be made available for each job. These job
descriptions should spell out the various functions involved in performing the
job.
2. Qualities Required: Besides job descriptions, it is necessary to have a detailed
list of qualities required to perform each of these functions. These qualities may
be broadly divided into four categories:
1. technical knowledge and skills
2. managerial capabilities and qualities
3. Behavioural capabilities
4. Conceptual capabilities.

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3. Indicators of Qualities: A good potential appraisal system besides listing

down the functions and qualities would also have various mechanisms for
judging these qualities in a given individual. Some of the mechanisms for judging
these qualities are:
1. Rating by others
2. Psychological tests
3. Simulation games and exercises
4. Performance appraisal records.
4. Organising the System: Once the functions, the qualities required performing
these functions, indicators of these qualities, and mechanisms for generating
these indicators are clear, the organisation is in a sound position to establish and
operate the potential appraisal system. Such establishment requires clarity in
organisational policies and systematisation of its efforts.
5. Feedback: If the organisation believes in the development of human resources
it should attempt to generate a climate of openness. Such a climate is required for
helping the employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to
create opportunities for development. A good potential appraisal system should
provide an opportunity for every employee to know the results of assessment. He
should be helped to understand the qualities actually required for performing the
role for which he thinks he has the potential, the mechanisms used by the
organisation to appraise his potential, and the results of such an appraisal.

A good potential appraisal system provides opportunities continuously for the employee
to know his strengths and weaknesses. These are done through periodic counseling and
guidance sessions by either the personnel department or the managers concerned. This
should enable the employee to develop realistic self-perceptions and plan his own career
and development.

Potential Appraisal Vs. Performance Appraisal

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Potential Appraisal is forward looking process whether performance appraisal is

backward looking process. Any good or worse assessment results of performance
appraisal may not be a good factor for potential appraisal. But current performance of
an employee could show evidence somewhere whether he/she is flexible for new
working conditions.

Performance Appraisal Potential Appraisal

Backward looking process. Forward looking process

Assesses the performance Assesses the unutilised capabilities

Done after the Job Done before the job is performed

Helps to decide incentive plans, Helps to decide future job assignments

promotion training needs etc.

Assessed based on quantity and quality of Assesses based on personality traits,

work done experience attitude, ambition etc.

Purpose & Uses of Performance Apraisal

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Performance Coaching
● It is a corrective tool –when things go wrong
● A process that both parties enter into willingly with clear expectations and
agreements on how the process will work.
● Coaching emphasises practical issues such as goal setting and achieving results
within timeframes
● Coaching involves ongoing continuous development
● Coaching is a different approach to developing employees' potential. With
coaching, the employee is provided with the opportunity to grow and achieve
optimal performance through consistent feedback, counseling and mentoring.

These seven steps, when followed, can help create a positive environment
for providing feedback.

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Step 1: Build a Relationship of Mutual Trust

The foundation of any coaching relationship is rooted in the manager's day-to-day
relationship with the employee. Without some degree of trust, conducting an effective
coaching meeting is impossible.

Step 2: Open the Meeting

In opening a coaching meeting, it's important for the manager to clarify, in a non
evaluative, non accusatory way, the specific reason the meeting was arranged. The key to
this step is to restate -- in a friendly, nonjudgmental manner -- the meeting purpose that
was first set when the appointment was scheduled.

Step 3: Get Agreement

Probably the most critical step in the coaching meeting process is getting the employee
to agree verbally that a performance issue exists. Overlooking or avoiding the
performance issue because you assume the employee understands its significance is a
typical mistake of managers. To persuade an employee a performance issue exists, a
manager must be able to define the nature of the issue and get the employee to
recognize the consequences of not changing his or her behavior. To do this, you must
specify the behavior and clarify the consequences.
The skill of specifying the behavior consists of three parts.
1. Cite specific examples of the performance issue.
2. Clarify your performance expectations in the situation.
3. Asks the employee for agreement on the issue.

The skill of clarifying consequences consists of two parts. You should:

1. Probe to get the employee to articulate his or her understanding of the consequences
associated with the performance issue.
2. Ask the employee for agreement on the issue.

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Step 4: Explore Alternatives

Next, explore ways the issue can be improved or corrected by encouraging the employee
to identify alternative solutions. Avoid jumping in with your own alternatives, unless the
employee is unable to think of any. Push for specific alternatives and not
generalizations. Your goal in this step is not to choose an alternative, which is the next
step, but to maximize the number of choices for the employee to consider and to discuss
their advantages and disadvantages.
This requires the skill of reacting and expanding. You should acknowledge the
employee's suggestion, discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the suggestion, ask for and
offer additional suggestions, and ask the employee to explain how to resolve the issue
under discussion.

Step 5: Get a Commitment to Act

The next step is to help the employee choose an alternative. Don't make the choice for
the employee. To accomplish this step, the manager must be sure to get a verbal
commitment from the employee regarding what action will be taken and when it will be
taken. Be sure to support the employee's choice and offer praise.

Step 6: Handle Excuses

Employee excuses may occur at any point during the coaching meeting. To handle
excuses, rephrase the point by taking a comment or statement that was perceived by the
employee to be blaming or accusatory and recast it as an encouragement for the
employee to examine his or her behavior. Respond empathically to show support for the
employee's situation and communicate an understanding of both the content and feeling
of the employee's comment.
Step 7: Provide Feedback
Effective coaches understand the value and importance of giving continual performance
feedback to their people, both positive and corrective.

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There are a few critical things to remember when giving feedback to others. Feedback
should:
● Be timely. It should occur as soon as practical after the interaction, completion of
the deliverable, or observation is made.
● Be specific. Statements like "You did a great job" or "You didn't take care of the
clients' concerns very well" are too vague and don't give enough insight into the
behavior you would like to see repeated or changed.
● Focus on the "what," not the "why." Avoid making the feedback seem as if it is a
judgment. Begin with "I have observed..." or "I have seen..." and then refer to the
behavior. Focus on behavior and not the person. Describe what you heard and saw
and how those behaviors impact the team, client, etc.
● Use a sincere tone of voice. Avoid a tone that exhibits anger, frustration,
disappointment or sarcasm.

Positive feedback strengthens performance. People will naturally go the extra mile when
they feel recognized and appreciated. When corrective feedback is handled poorly, it will
be a significant source of friction and conflict. When it is handled well, people will
experience the positive effects and performance is strengthened.

Mentoring
● Personal development relationship in which a more experienced or
knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced and knowledge person
● Mentors tend to be recognised experts within a particular field or industry
● Mentors provide advice, direction and guidance drawing more from their past
experience and successes

Counselling
● Psychotherapy
● Counselling as therapy seeks to explore and resolve underlying personal issues
and working towards positive changes.
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● Counselling in the workplaces tends to emphasise the problems involved with not
meeting a required standard
● Counselling is needs based and can therefore be event based

Communicating Feedback

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Receiving Feedback Effectively

• Listen to the feedback given. This means not interrupting. Hear the person out,

and listen to what they are really saying, not what you assume they are going say. You
can absorb more information if you are concentrating on listening and understanding
than if you are being defensive and focusing on your response.

• Be aware of your non-verbal responses. Your body language and tone of voice

can speak louder than words. Looking distracted and bored sends a negative message
and can create unnecessary barriers. Attentiveness, on the other hand, indicates that
you value what someone has to say, and puts both of you at ease.

• Be open. This means being receptive to new ideas and different opinions. Often, there
is more than one way of doing something, and other people may have a completely
different viewpoint on a topic. Remain open, and you may learn something worthwhile.

• Understand the message. Make sure you understand what is being said to you,

especially before responding to the feedback. Ask questions for clarification, if

necessary. Listen actively by repeating key points so that you know you have interpreted
the feedback correctly. In a group environment, ask for others’ feedback before

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responding. As well, when possible, be explicit beforehand about the kind of feedback
you are seeking, so you are not taken by surprise.

• Reflect and decide what to do. Assess the value of the feedback and the
consequences of using it or ignoring it, and then decide what you want to do. Your
response is your choice. If, after careful consideration, you decide that you disagree with
the feedback, you might ask for a second opinion from someone else.

• Follow up. There are many ways to follow up on feedback. Sometimes, your
follow-up will simply be to implement the suggestions you‘ve been given. In other
situations, you might want to set up another meeting to discuss the feedback or to
submit revised work.

Giving Effective Feedback

• Prioritize your ideas and understand their value. Limit your feedback to the
most important issues. Consider the potential value of the feedback to the receiver.
Consider how you yourself would respond to such feedback (would you be able to act on
it?). Remember also that receiving too much feedback at one time can be overwhelming
for the recipient.

• Concentrate on the behaviour, not the person. One strategy is to open by

stating the behaviour in question, then to describe how you feel about it, and to end by
stating what you want. This model enables you to avoid sounding accusatory and to
focus on behaviours rather than on your assumptions about or interpretations of the
behaviours.

Example: “I haven’t seen you at our superintendency meetings lately. I’m worried that
you are missing important information. Can we meet soon to discuss it?” Instead of:
“You obviously don’t think our superintendency meetings are important!”

• Balance the content. Use the “sandwich approach”. Begin by providing comments
on specific strengths, to give reinforcement and identify things the recipient should keep
doing. Then identify specific areas for improvement and ways to make changes.
Conclude with a positive comment. This model helps to bolster the recipient’s
confidence and keeps weaker areas in perspective.

Example: “Your presentation was great. You made good eye contact and were well
prepared. You were a little hard to hear at the back of the room, but with some practice
you can overcome this. Keep up the good work!” Instead of: “You didn’t speak loudly
enough, but otherwise the presentation went well.”

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