Through the Forest
Over the past few years, various companies like Adobe and General Electric have done away with the sometimes-dreaded blizzard of annual performance reviews, discussed here by leadership development service Lighthouse. The reason for this abandonment of yearly appraisals might appear obvious at first. Reserving a single conversation for a year’s worth of feedback can be burdensome for leaders and staff alike, like trudging through paths of packed snow.
Pursuing more productive feedback exchanges, Adobe migrated to frequent check-ins. Fresh situations, after all, are the most prominent in our minds, as conveyed here by career coach Chrissy Scivicque. The reason for this also seems clear–if our child misbehaves, we wouldn’t postpone discussing it until the end of the year. Likewise, if they do something exceptionally well, we probably offer praise then and there.
As adults, we are similarly better suited to feedback in the moment, emphasized here on Linkedin Pulse. Fresh and timely feedback provides relevance and context, preventing the exchange from seeming like an abrupt avalanche. In the wake of seemingly ubiquitous flurries of burnout like “Quiet Quitting,” productivity paranoia still remains a concern in our workforce. Yet it’s a paranoia that can be conquered through graceful mastery of mutual feedback.
In this video, communication expert Michelle Lederman outlines the ins-and-outs of quality feedback. Meaningful feedback isn’t the vocalization of an itemized list. Rather, it’s a conversation. It’s an exchange of mutual concerns, thoughts, and goals.
Quality feedback is how we enhance and support the relationships between us, whether at work or home, with colleagues or family. To that end, SurePeople’s Relationship Advisor can serve as a trusty compass, helping us discern the needs and perspectives of those around us while clearing a path through the howling blizzard of human interaction.
Do you have an idea you want to share with an empowered community of self-aware professionals? If you’d like to contribute an idea or article to ‘In The Flow of Work’ on the Evolve blog, just send us a message or submit a post to our Head of Content, Adam Schneider