Peer feedback is the evaluation where two coworkers provide quality feedback on each other's work through both positive and negative comments, via the use of constructive criticism. A peer review’s purpose is to help peers keep on track, identify mistakes, learn problem solving skills that will allow growth, and allow managers to discover hidden talents within the team members.
Peer feedback is a beneficial way for us to grow, both professionally and personally. They allow us to receive constructive feedback that helps us recognize our mistakes, learn how to better handle similar problems in future projects with problem solving skills, and work on hidden talents that managers might not have known they had.
Today we'll be discussing the importance of peer feedback by talking about the many ways in which how it improves and benefits the workplace environment.
1. Allows everyone to keep on track
If you are a peer reviewer, you have the opportunity to write effective feedback on each other's work. This enables a peer being reviewed to take critical feedback and apply it to future projects. It allows for everyone to continuously improve and keep their work at an optimal level.
2. Identify mistakes and correct them
Effective feedback enables a peer reviewer to comment on both positive and negative things about one's performance during a peer feedback session. Some of these comments may be problems that we had not noticed before, but when addressed through effective feedback, they can be fixed easily.
Through peer feedback we can now readily identify our mistakes, thus learning from them and make corrections moving forward and become even better employees.
3. Learn problem solving skills
Peer evaluation can help us with solving problems within a project. By receiving useful feedback from a peer, it is easier to identify parts of a project that are not working or that need improvement. This enables peer reviewers to find solutions to these issues by collaborating with the coworkers being reviewed on possible improvements moving forward.
4. Enable personal growth
Regular peer feedback in the workplace may help employees grow both professionally and personally. With effective peer feedback session, a peer reviewer can convey their thoughts on what has been done well and how it may be further improved upon.
When this occurs between an employee and his or her peer, there is room for more constructive criticism than if this were to come from direct superiors or an HR representative. Effective peer feedback can allow oneself to not only learn about individual mistakes, but also can help to gain problem solving skills to improve one's approach when dealing with similar problems in the future.
5. Help managers discover hidden talent
The feedback process with peers can also allow managers to see certain talents that they may not have known their teams possessed. It offers deeper insight into how well an employee might handle certain situations when they are under pressure, when working alone, or how well they work with others. The peer review process then allows managers to take those qualities and work them into their teams moving forward.
Peer feedback is a great way for us to connect with our peers and improve upon our performance by giving and receiving negative and positive feedback. They also enable us to discover hidden talent within the company and aid in personal growth as we learn from our mistakes and come up with better strategies for future projects. By allowing peers to offer useful feedback to one another, the workplace can suddenly can become a learning environment and ultimately offer many different benefits to a business.
If you'd like to learn even more about peer feedback, then check out our comprehensive guide to peer feedback where we discuss the subject far more in-depth. Also consider trying Matter, a free Slack app that allows team members to recognize one another with praise or Kudos, and give constructive feedback.