Self-Feedback: Everything You Need To Know

Self-feedback is a highly beneficial tool in the workplace. It is a form of personal feedback that managers and employees can provide to themselves. Managers can evaluate themselves and use employee feedback to create a well-rounded work environment. 

The self-assessment motive suggests that people seek out tasks that lead to feedback, even if the feedback is negative. 

There are several types of feedback, each having its purpose and benefits. Providing feedback during the quarter encourages accountability and ensures that employees stay on the right track. 

Also read: 10 Best Employee Feedback Tools To Track Performance

Summative goal setting is beneficial because it usually provides a metric or grade and encourages improvement. Abstract and measurable feedback are both important aspects of a well-rounded workplace. 

Self-feedback can improve office dynamics and communication between managers and their employees. It can lead to increased productivity and more effective goal-setting. Self-evaluation is a driver in realistic goals—we cannot set attainable goals without first addressing our strong points and areas we need to work on.

Feedback can be a useful benchmark to keep track of performance improvement. Even if there are no metrics to prove it, an increase in positive feedback or expressed improvement can help track employee growth. 

It also encourages employees to be honest with themselves about their strengths and their weaknesses through employee feedback. You know yourself best. It is sometimes difficult to obtain an accurate read on your performance with external feedback alone. 

Others may sometimes provide feedback that is inaccurate or too lenient. We cannot depend on the feedback of others alone.

Self-feedback can also increase self-awareness and encourage team-building. It is a beneficial trait as it improves communication and leadership skills. A healthy communicative environment correlates with higher sales and customer retention. 

Also read: 7 Video Conferencing Etiquettes For You To Follow

Employees’ self-review may suggest that they are a part of a department that hinders their productivity. Managers can use this employee feedback to find a solution and, in turn, increase productivity and employee satisfaction.

Understanding Self-Feedback

The self-assessment motive suggests that people want to find an accurate view of themselves. They seek tasks that result in feedback. This motive is especially relevant for adjustable traits. It does not matter if the feedback is negative or positive—people still naturally seek it.

Feedback is information about how a product or person performs, often used as a basis for improvement. There are several types of feedback that you can give verbally or in metrics. 

You telling your employee that you are noticing an improvement in their teamwork is an example of verbal feedback. Compiling a report of their sales numbers from the previous years is also feedback. Sometimes, it can be in the form of asynchronous comments and suggestions.

Effective leaders provide several types of feedback for employees and themselves throughout the quarter. Formative feedback is ongoing and measures performance during the quarter. Summative feedback is provided after the fact and usually has metrics attached to it.

How It Can Help in the Workplace

Self-feedback can result in an overall more productive and positive work environment. When managers conduct self-feedback, it ensures that they are working to be effective leaders. 

They can also evaluate employees’ self-feedback to determine what changes they can make to improve productivity and employee satisfaction. 

It encourages accountability and can help all participants improve their self-awareness. The best leaders are self-aware and can evaluate themselves as well as they can their subordinates. 

It can lead to professional development for both the individual and the company. 

Also read: Do These 8 Things To Improve Employee Engagement 

How to Self-Evaluate

Evaluating yourself is an important and relatively simple task. To perform a strong self-evaluation, you should first determine how you will use this feedback. Are you turning this report in for performance reviews? Are you trying to set personal goals to be a better leader?

Then, write out your accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses. It is helpful if you have analytics to back this up. For example, if you accomplished a certain amount of sales or received positive feedback from your employees, it is helpful to record those notes for your self-feedback. 

It is important to be honest with yourself during self-evaluation—you cannot set realistic goals if you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses. You should also determine the strengths and weaknesses of your employees. 

You should then set measurable, realistic goals. Attainable goals are goals that are within reach. You should always challenge yourself, but unrealistic goals can discourage you and hinder your productivity. 

You should also be asking yourself if what you are currently doing is productive toward accomplishing your goals or if you need to make changes. Realistic goals are important for productivity.

To set a realistic goal, design them to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Don’t forget to align your feedback with your team’s goals. 

Example of Self-Feedback

An example of effective self-feedback could be, “Last year, I scheduled three check-ins with all of my employees. These meetings resulted in an 8% increase in sales.”

Benefits of Self-Feedback 

Self-feedback is a useful tool in the workplace for employees and superiors alike. 

1. Helps Improve the Goal-Setting Process

Self-feedback solidifies goal-setting plans along with feedback from others. Evaluating yourself helps you set realistic goals and forces you to ask yourself if your current course of action is truly productive in reaching your goals. 

It Encourages You to Reflect With Honesty and Leads to Self-Improvement. Being honest with yourself about your weaknesses makes it easier for you to frame them as opportunities to improve. 

The Practice of Self-Feedback Can Enhance Self-Awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to understand your behavior and how it may impact others. Self-aware managers are proven to make better employers and leaders. 

They are more likely to communicate effectively and make sound decisions. 

Self-feedback increases self-awareness by forcing you to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, and overall performance.

According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, there are two types of self-awareness: internal self-awareness and external self-awareness. 

Internal self-awareness is how accurately we can view ourselves—it is how we comprehend our values, behaviors, strengths, weaknesses, and how we affect others. External self-awareness involves understanding how others view us. 

Also read: 7 Reasons Why Goal Setting Is Important

2. Improves Team-Building and Boosts Performance 

Employee feedback helps managers ensure that each individual feels that they are working in a safe and productive environment. 

The best leaders and employees are self-aware—self-aware individuals are often strong communicators. An increase in positive communication between managers and employees leads to a healthier work environment and, in turn, improved employee performance. 

A reliable team leads to customer retention and satisfaction.

3. Helps Managers Keep Track of Their Accomplishments. 

Formative self-feedback is useful for tracking your progress throughout the quarter, whether it is abstract like an attitude improvement or concrete, like an increase in retention or sales. 

An example of formative self-feedback is: “I feel like I am improving my communication skills by setting up weekly one-on-one meetings with my employees.” 

Summative self-feedback is a great tool to use as a summary of accomplishments and places for improvement. It often includes metrics like the number of sales, percentage increases, turnover rates, retention rates, and more. 

An example of summative self-feedback is: “This year, I helped increase customer retention by 23%.” 

Employee Feedback and Its Importance 

When employees conduct self-feedback, it allows them to provide honest insights to managers about their team dynamic. Team-building is important and is impossible without the tools to do so. 

Employee feedback is a crucial aspect of building a strong team. It also encourages employee accountability. 

Finding out how employees view themselves as part of the team can help managers evaluate the team as a whole. 

However, self-feedback from employees alone is not nearly as productive as when combined with constructive employer feedback.

The theory of self-assessment motive is especially relevant with employees trying to climb the ranks in their organization. They seek out approval from their fellow employees and higher-ups. 

How Managers Can Use This Feedback

Using employee feedback can assist managers with filling in information gaps in their organization. It allows them to use their employee’s insight to determine several workplace elements, including assigning tasks and determining realistic timelines. 

If there is inappropriate behavior or an unproductive team, self-feedback can help guide managers in the right direction and improve the company’s workflow. 

For example, if an employee’s feedback suggests that they do not feel comfortable or productive in their team, a manager can use this information to place the employee in a team that they will be able to perform best in. 

The process of receiving and dissecting employee feedback can improve the communication skills of both employees and managers. 

Whether it is for performance evaluations or a casual check-in, employee feedback is a crucial tool for managers to use to build a strong team.  

Also read: Performance Reviews: A Manager’s Guide

Wrapping It Up: Self-Feedback Takeaways   

Self-feedback is a useful tool for managers to ensure accountability and productivity. The combination of self-feedback and employee feedback is the recipe for success in a workplace. Self-feedback can also enhance self-awareness. 

When managers and employees evaluate how their actions affect others, they are more mindful of their actions and the results that they have. 

Check out this article from Forbes to learn more about formative feedback and communicating with purpose. 

Effectively communicating feedback, both good and bad, is a crucial leadership skill to have. 

Employee Career Development

How To Create A Feedback Culture In Your Workplace?

Feedback, whether good or constructive, helps employees grow both professionally and personally. Whether it is a thank-you note, simple praise, lunch in honor, or a one-on-one, it helps employees know what they are doing right or wrong. In fact, it also helps them excel in their performance and stay engaged. As per a recent Harvard Business Review survey, 72% of respondents said their performance would improve if they received frequent feedback from managers. 

In the past year and a half, we have seen drastic changes in the work environment and the way we work. Consequently, reports of disengagement, anxiety, stress, and lack of focus have also increased. A little feedback can help your employees perform a lot better. Everyone needs it, irrespective of their hierarchy in the organization.

Also Read: 7 Common Goal Setting Mistakes Managers Should Avoid

Globally, companies have different ways of promoting employee feedback. But when they do it just for the sake of it, it is hard to adopt, and often employees find it forceful. Instead, they should make it a part of the organizational culture, which will make it easier for all the employees to adopt.

What Is A Feedback Culture?

A feedback culture is one where employees are encouraged to share and receive feedback from each other, irrespective of their levels in the organization. Feedback in any form is a part of the core culture of the organization. Employees are open and honest in sharing their feedback and accept feedback from everyone. But it is easier said than done and takes time to develop and needs to be nurtured.

So, here’s how you can establish a feedback culture in your organization.

Nurture A Growth Mindset

Every employee working in the organization must show a growth mindset. People with a growth mindset show affinity towards continuous learning and willingness to improve their skills. They always find room for improvement and growth to hone their skills and capabilities. For them, feedback is a way for them to understand themselves better and improve. Here’s how you can build a growth mindset in the organization:

  • Start from day one! While hiring and screening your employees, assess their mindset towards growth.
  • Provide opportunities to employees for continuous training, development, and learning.
  • Recognize your employees who show overall growth
Also Read: Know How To Make Remote Employee Check-Ins Effective

Re-Assess Your Current Company Culture

In order to build a feedback culture, it is important to gauge and assess the culture that already exists in your organization. By assessing the culture that already exists, it becomes easier to get a better grasp of what needs to be done. It becomes easy to integrate the feedback culture with the existing culture of the organization.

Select The Right Feedback Tool

Once you’ve got the culture portion figured, you need to decide what kind of feedback tools you want to utilize. There are certain factors that are important for you to consider. Like the ease of use, the implementation process, how it matches with the way work is done, and selecting the tool that best aligns with the culture of the organization.  

Framing Feedback

The success of a feedback process has a lot to do with how feedback is framed. In order to maximize the power of feedback, there are three things that need to happen. First of all, feedback needs to be meaningful. Secondly, feedback should focus on people’s strengths and weaknesses. And thirdly, it should not be delayed.

Also Read: 5 Best Practices For Effective One-On-One Meetings

Train Your Employees To Share Feedback

Once feedback tools have been implemented and a feedback framework has been implemented, people have to be taught how to give feedback (be it with a feedback tool, or just the act of giving feedback). Besides teaching, feedback also needs to be practiced. We tend to adopt and model the behaviors that we see others using, especially those modeled by leaders. When you see people giving and receiving feedback frequently and making a habit of it, it becomes easier to do it yourself, so it’s important to deliberately practice giving feedback.

Monitor The Process

To know how the feedback tool is doing, how many people are using it, you need to come up with a set of metrics and behaviors that you would ideally like to see. You can then use this as a yardstick to measure the success of the tool and track the overall progress of the process.

Also Read: A Guide To Effective Employee Feedback

Revaluate And Restructure

The final step in the cycle is where you need to critically evaluate the entire process. Take note of what works. Take note of what does not work. You will find that there are certain processes you need to rework or reframe. When you’re able to identify what works it provides you with an opportunity to replicate the good and leverage internal champions to promote/reinforce your feedback-driven culture.


Want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Feedback? Request for a demo!

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Performance Management: Post COVID Changes To Get Used To

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates

Remote work is not the only aspect of change in the past year. COVID-19 has made sure that everything that was once normal is not so anymore. So we at Engagedly sought to understand these changes (esp. with performance management), how they are impacting us today and whether these changes are permanent. 

We surveyed to understand the situation better and bring to you information that will help you improve employee engagement and learning. 

In the previous edition, People Development Goes Virtual and More Feedback Focused, we discussed how the pandemic has impacted learning and development, and feedback. In this edition, we will discuss the comprehensive overview

The Performance Management Survey: 

We asked leaders from 5 key industries to report the degree of change for different performance management processes. They were to report whether or not each of the performance management processes was occurring more or less frequently during COVID-19. 

They responded on a five-point scale (1= significantly less frequent and 5 = significantly more frequent).

What did we find?

Overall, 20% of respondents were very satisfied with the changes they experienced related to performance management and people development processes. These are the leaders that reported being very satisfied (5, on a 1-5 point likert scale measuring satisfaction) with the changes to performance management and people processes that they experienced due to COVID-19. 

Taking a deeper look into those who were very satisfied with the changes provides some additional insights to guide future initiatives. 

Also read: Performance Management Gone Virtual and More Progressive

When asked, “What specific process change(s) to people development had the biggest impact on your satisfaction?” There were a few key themes that surfaced: 

  • Improved training technologies/processes 
  • More frequent and accessible trainings for employees 
  • Breadth of training offered 

When asked, “What specific process change(s) to performance had the biggest impact on your satisfaction?” Here were a few key themes that surfaced: 

  • Incentivizing/recognizing employees for good/improved performance and adherence to new policies 
  • Checking in more frequently with employees about performance and asking them how they were doing personally as well (well-being) 
  • Optimization of systems and technology 
  • Transitioning back to the in-person work environment and work schedules Investments in technologies 
  • Supporting the more flexible work environment and coordinating the work of the team(s) 
Also read: Know How to Make Employee Feedback Work

We are still amidst the fog of COVID and its remote work environment when it comes to most of the workplaces in the US. It still remains to be seen if these changes are widespread permanence or if they will be more industry-specific. While we do anticipate that there will be some retrenchment to the old way of managing Performance and Learning & Development but it seems quite likely that we will not go back to pre-February 2020 days

When looking at the data and insights we can always learn a lot from those that are doing well, or have had a favorable experience. Though our natural tendency is to fix the broken parts, sometimes a fix is as easy as replicating or copying where things are working well. These lessons can come easily from both internal and external sources. All we need to do is be mindful of this fact, and stay curious.

Want to view the detailed report? Click here.

 


Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing continuous feedback? Then request for a live demo

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Importance Of Continuous Feedback In the Post COVID Era

“Don’t just criticize, condemn or complain, give a constructive feedback instead”- Dale Carnegie

Don’t we all like instant gratification? We all crave for it at various levels, both consciously and subconsciously. It is not only true for our personal lives but professional lives too. Employees love to receive feedback and recognition for the work they do. It gives them validation that they are good and keeps them engaged. Additionally, it also helps in enhancing productivity.

Continuous feedback is not a new concept or a different type of feedback process. It is the act of sharing feedback with your employees more frequently. Companies like Goldman Sachs, Adobe, GE, and Deloitte have already made this a part of the process long before the COVID era.  But the COVID and post-COVID era has made continuous feedback even more important and a necessity that every organization should adopt.

Also Read: Why These 8 Top Companies Redefined Their Performance Management Systems?

Working remotely, employees face numerous disturbances. So it can be quite common for someone to be stressed, disturbed, disengaged, or anxious at work. As a manager, continuous feedback acts as a great tool for you to keep a check on your remote employees. It opens up a channel of two-way communication between the employee and the employer.

Here are some of the common benefits of practicing continuous feedback.

Reduces Attrition Rate

A recent survey by McKinsey highlights that 74 percent of employees who were receiving continuous feedback and coaching from their managers have an effective performance management system. Additionally, they are able to control and reduce attrition.

When employees receive too little feedback, what happens? They leave. A lack of feedback is reason enough for employees to change jobs. It is also important to note the difference between feedback and constructive and meaningful feedback. Feedback can mean anything, even noise. On the other hand, constructive feedback not only takes into account the person receiving the feedback but also their skills and competency and the work they are doing. When feedback is given correctly it reduces attrition and improves retention.

Increases Engagement

One of the main benefits of having a culture of continuous feedback is, it increases employee engagement. Multiple studies and statistics reveal that employees are much happier when they receive meaningful feedback. It helps them stay motivated and work better. Here are a few statistics to take a look at:

  • 27% strongly agree the feedback they receive helps them do their work better.
  • Gallup found that only 21% of millennials and 18% of non-millennials meet with their manager weekly. The majority of employees say they meet with their manager as infrequently as less than once a month (56% of millennials and 53% of non-millennials)

Timely Recognition

Continuous feedback enables managers and the organization to reward their employees right away. Instant recognition brings a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment at work among employees. They feel that their hard work is not going unnoticed, and the company values them for their work. It instills a different level of energy in them and boosts their morale. They strive to work harder to fulfill business objectives and goals. They tend to remain continuously engaged and happy at work.

Also Read: Employee Rewards And Recognition For An Engaged Workforce

Benefits Everyone

Continuous feedback is not only for certain employees. The main motive behind it is to help the employees to improve consistently with time. Good employees become better, and struggling employees find direction for improvement. It need not be criticism or praise always. Instead, it can be small suggestions or feedback that will make their work easy.

Improved productivity

When there’s consistent feedback to rely on, there’s always room for improvement. There’s also the desire to improve not only performance but also productivity. Continuous feedback motivates us in more ways than one. Feedback encourages employees to keep trying new and challenging things. Feedback is a sign for the employees that their managers are paying attention to their work and want them to improve.

Also Read: People Development Goes Virtual And More Feedback Focused

Helps Track Growth Of Employees

Do you know which factor can have a marked impact on performance reviews? Documented feedback. Continuous feedback shows a trajectory of performance and indicates employee growth. It provides a representation of an employee’s work overtime. Moreover, it helps employees to identify where they made mistakes or what they could have improved.
Continuous feedback makes the performance review process a whole lot easier. It becomes easy to make performance-related decisions.


Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing continuous feedback? Then request for a live demo

Request A Demo

6 Tips For Giving Effective Employee Feedback

Frequent employee feedback is one of those things that contribute the most to the organizational productivity but not many employees actually get it.

Continue reading “6 Tips For Giving Effective Employee Feedback”

6 Rules For Giving Excellent Employee Feedback

One reason why people don’t give feedback often is because they think they suck it at. But here’s the thing. Giving feedback is not rocket science. You can give good feedback, by simply hacking the system.

No really. Just keep in mind these 6 rules when giving feedback the next time and you should be good to go.

Continue reading “6 Rules For Giving Excellent Employee Feedback”

The 5 Biggest Employee Feedback Software Blunders

Employee feedback software can be a boon or a bane, depending on how you utilize it. Introducing a software application into your organization’s daily processes is not an easy thing to do, and very often, organizations fail to adopt software because they probably made one of the following blunders!

Continue reading “The 5 Biggest Employee Feedback Software Blunders”

Should Employee Feedback Be Real-Time Always?

Let’s begin by asking ourselves a simple question, do you prefer feedback in the present or at some vague time in the future?

I, for one prefer feedback to be given in the present, and not a few months down the line, after the window of opportunity for it has long passed by. I’m a staunch believer in the fact that employee feedback should always be real-time.

Just as our workforce is growing and diversifying, so are our work methods and processes changing. Our feedback process has changed a lot over the years. More and more organizations have come to prefer feedback being given and received in a frequent loop-like manner as opposed to once a year or twice a year. But why this change though?

Here is one big reason why:

Current Feedback is Good Feedback – When feedback is given right away, it can be used to improve upon a product, carry out a task better or implement a solution better. Current feedback only has benefits. There are literally no downsides to it. This is of course assuming that it is also valid and useful feedback that is based on fact and is not subjective.

However, when feedback is delayed, the only person who suffers is the employee. They cannot improve upon their work or their skill and in waiting for the feedback process at the end of the year, not only does the feedback lose its efficacy and impact, but it also doesn’t help anyone, simply because it’s too late.

Current feedback can be the very thing that helps an employee succeed phenomenally or catches a small mistake before it balloons into a bigger one.

But assuming you believe in feedback being current, isn’t it still cumbersome to seek out an employee or team and give them feedback? Yes, in some cases it is cumbersome especially when employees are scattered over the globe.

But one of the benefits of the technology is that there are many apps and software nowadays are built specifically for the purpose of giving feedback within an organization or apps and software that have a feedback feature built in.

Engagedly is a performance management software that also has a highly efficient feedback module. The entire purpose of the Feedback feature is to make the process of giving and receiving feedback easier. Engagedly’s feedback feature also allows you to follow up on feedback and refer to already given feedback when carrying out performance reviews or multirater feedback!


How can Engagedly help your organization improve feedback and communication? Request a demo today to find out!