3 Ways Ongoing Feedback Pads Your Bottom Line

That's not a valid work email account. Please enter your work email (e.g. you@yourcompany.com)
Please enter your work email
(e.g. you@yourcompany.com)

road

We know the drill: You’re a manager with tons of tasks on your to-do list. You already have so much on your plate. The thought of adding even one more thing seems a little insane.

Meanwhile, you keep hearing about this “ongoing feedback” thing. Would it really be worth your time? Is feedback that important? Actually, it is!

Giving employees feedback and direction is one of the best things you can do for your team. Positive or negative, feedback helps workers grow and develop, and it presents the opportunity for well-deserved recognition. More importantly, employees want to hear what you have to say. Harvard Business Review found  that 72 percent of employees believe employee performance would improve if their managers would provide corrective feedback. Offering corrective and ongoing feedback really is the best way to develop high-performing employees while opening up better lines of communication.

Not quite sold yet? Check out these three ways ongoing feedback can actually eliminate challenges and create amazing performance solutions:

1. It’s Timely and Allows You to Address Issues Quickly

The point of ongoing feedback is, of course, to give feedback on a continuous basis. If managers see something good, bad, or an opportunity for coaching, they can immediately engage with the employee before the situation is over and the feedback loses all relevance. Immediate employee critique allows employees to adjust their approaches and fix mistakes before they become major issues.

Forty-three percent of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week. Are we starting to see a trend here?

Remember: You don’t just want to provide feedback; you want to provide feedback that is specific to the situation. That way, employees will have no misconceptions about what needs to be done in the future.

2. It Gives You a Way to Support Employees

When you treat employees right, they will return the favor through dedication and good work. Investing in employee development and their future careers is one of the best ways to inspire productivity and engagement. Ongoing feedback is the perfect avenue for this investment. And when employees feel more satisfied, they can become 12 percent more productive.

If a mistake is made, continuous, ongoing feedback  provides real-time performance correction and on-the-job training opportunities while giving managers the chance to remind their workers just how much they appreciate their work. This will strengthen the trust employees have in both a particular manager and the company as a whole. More trust in leadership means happier employees who are more connected to the organization.

3. It Means No Surprises for the Rest of Your Days

If you take the time to communicate and offer feedback on a continuous basis, you will run into fewer surprises. For instance, you will know which employees are struggling with which projects and which employees are excelling and interested in mentoring their peers. The chances of miscommunication between leaders and subordinates diminishes as lines of communication are opened up. Better understanding on all those fronts means better, possibly faster, work. Highly engaged employees are 38 percent more likely to have above-average productivity.

The benefits of ongoing feedback go beyond even the ones we’ve listed here. From creating transparency to empowering employees, real-time feedback fosters all the conditions that make for a highly focused and highly skilled workforce.

A version of this article originally appeared on the iRevü blog. 

Michael Heller is the CEO and founder of iRevü.

By Michael Heller