Every company wants its teams to work better, complete tasks faster, and meet goals quickly. However, productivity is not an aim in itself, but rather a result of effective managers' work and communication with the team.
What can keep employees more motivated and productive than KPIs and a standard set of benefits, such as gym membership? Feedback. Not the formal review at the end of the year that everyone forgets, but continuous communication that shows every team member: "You're heard. You're valued." Is the corporate world where feedback is not a penalty but a productivity booster real?
Culture of Continuous Feedback: Myth or Reality?
The realization that formal interviews and conversations like "How do you like your job?" have no effect, and consequently, no value, emerged in the early 2000s. Huge industries like IT were the first to see that a lack of communication led to poor productivity. Not because employees did not want to work; they just did not feel like their bosses really cared about what they did.
Companies, such as Adobe and GE, were the first ones who replaced annual reviews with more dynamic continuous feedback models for employers and managers. The goal was to notice and fix any hardships team members experienced before they became burned out.
Nowadays, a culture of open communication and regular performance conversations has become a top priority for many modern teams. They focus on real-time exchanges where employees receive timely recognition, constructive suggestions, and helpful pieces of advice as part of their daily work.
Key elements of effective feedback
- Clarity: A worker cannot improve what they do not understand. Phrases "You need to do better" bring confusion rather than motivation. "The report was detailed two days late. Let's set deadlines with some buffer next time," sounds better.
- Consistency: A 1-2-1 with an employee only once or twice a year doesn't help anyone improve. Schedule such meetings weekly or at least a few times during a project. It doesn't always have to be long, but if you manage to share a couple of things you want the team member to think of, it'll be great.
- Two-way communication: Feedback should not only flow from manager to employee. Team members should also have an opportunity to share their pains and ideas. Imagine one of your employees deals with documents and asks for a solution that would simplify the process. You can either ignore their request or spend some time and find a tool that would help, like the Loio template library. For you as a manager, it is just a few minutes of time, but for the worker, it's a sign they are heard.
- Focus on actions: If nothing changes after the feedback session, it wasn't helpful. Everything you mention should make it easier for the person to grow. Forget about long to-do lists and hit-and-run results. A person cannot simultaneously work on more than two things to improve. So, set realistic goals.
Feedback & Team Effectiveness: What's the Connection?
Employees should know what the company expects from them. How can one be productive if one starts and ends their working day with the thoughts, "Do I work well?" Are they going to fire me? What if I fail in this project?"
We all want to know our contribution is valued. It does not mean that bosses should constantly praise workers for the smallest completed task. However, recognition fuels our motivation and pushes us to climb the mountain of corporate success with more energy.
Tips for Making Feedback Sessions Work
In big companies, managers do not always find the time to hear every employee. But it’s not impossible. The easiest way is to organize a feedback loop that works all the time. In such a way, employees can prepare for them, and managers do not get overloaded with interviews.
Besides, there are a few pieces of advice that can be helpful for building a continuous feedback culture:
- Be the role model: Any team follows its leader. When you openly talk about the challenges you face and the motivation you find, it shows your employees that sharing is safe. And making mistakes too.
- Make it a routine: Feedback is not something that should fall on employees' heads like summer snow. Knowing you have a monthly meeting with a boss to chat about anything and getting an official email titled "1-2-1" on a random day are different things. The first one feels ordinary, the second one — like the end of the world.
- Focus on behavior, not personality: When you criticize someone's traits, it feels personal. Therefore, feedback must be about actions that need to be changed, not a person. How should one react to "You're disorganized"? Instead, "The task came in late and made the whole team wait. Let's think of how we can stay ahead next time" shows one the problem and asks for a solution.
- Use the SBI method: How can you give clear and respectful input? It will help the employee understand what exactly they need to change and why. Follow the scheme:
- Situation — explain the context in which the problem occurred.
- Behavior — describe how the employee acted.
- Impact — reflect on the effect their actions had.
- Encourage interaction: Don't be the only one who leads the conversation. Team members should also have an opportunity to give each other feedback. People sitting next to each other in one room always know more than a manager.
- Do not only criticize: Start giving feedback with the positive: a person's contribution or good problem-solving skills. Make them feel you really value their role in the team, even if they make mistakes. Only after it, discuss issues to fix.
- Teach communication skills: Not everyone knows how to speak about their concerns in the right way. To help them, you can suggest quick role-plays or give examples during team meetings. Take abstract situations and ask team members to react to them.
- Act: If there is a recurring issue that bothers your team, do something about it. Why would employees be interested in working better if managers do not even try to?
The secret of creating a culture of continuous feedback is in mutual trust and open communication. When sharing suggestions and pains becomes part of daily habits, teams become more effective and motivated. Productivity doesn't rise by enforcing rules or measuring time. It grows when people feel heard and supported in doing their best work.
