6 Reasons why feedback is important

Providing feedback is harder than you might think. Whether its constructive feedback, providing positive feedback, thinking of feedback questions to ask or even trying to encourage feedback from your employees; we are here to help! It’s important for all of us to remember that the point of feedback is not to be patronising or point out flaws; the point is to identify areas for growth and celebrate what’s working well.

But why is feedback so important?

Essential in developing performance

Feedback is often mistaken for criticism when in actual fact is almost the opposite. Feedback is a method to try and help individuals in the future. It is constructive and geared towards developing the individual in future situations. Feedback is aimed to improve, increase and develop higher levels of performance in individuals.

Continuous learning

Feedback is imperative in developing a learners’ competence and confidence. Feedback is a time where you can gauge gaps in the employee’s knowledge. Encourage them to tell you areas where they think they can improve and then discuss how you can, together, achieve this improvement.

Employee Engagement

Research intakes that employees can be come not engaged or even worse, actively disengaged when they receive little or no feedback. It further indicates that highly engaged employees are more likely to receive feedback more frequently (once a week). They may not say it explicitly, but employees want feedback. They want recognition (link) for good work and they want to know what they should be doing better.

Improve working relationships

Feedback represents an opportunity for a manager to engender a positive relationship with their employees. You need to be interested in an employee’s development and career advice. Help them to develop professionally and personally. Feedback is the perfect opportunity to develop a positive working relationship.

Feedback isn’t purely confined to manager-employee. Peer to peer feedback as well as 360 degree offer an opportunity for relationships between colleagues to develop as it opens up communication channels between employees. This can be particularly useful if there are tensions or conflicts in the workplace as feedback provides an opportunity for issues to be resolved through a proper process. Moreover, regular feedback can prevent conflict from happening in the first place.

Motivation and Attitude

Feedback is an opportunity to motivate employees to do better. Give them a vision of what they are capable of achieving and help them elucidate the path to get there. Encourage them to ask questions which will motivate them to achieve their goals.

Through continuous feedback, managers can gain a full understanding of an employee’s strengths and weaknesses, help them to develop and consequently their hunger to succeed.

Career Development

We’ve mentioned it above, but feedback is an imperative tool in helping with the career development of an employee. Feedback helps along the whole process of development. Initial feedback stages can help elucidate the ambitions of the employee whilst also gauging whereabouts they are currently. Feedback post this initial stage helps to guide the employee along the way, finding out deficits in their knowledge and finding out where they may need training, learning and development.