Conduct employee and feedback interviews

Regular feedback meetings between supervisors and their employees have a positive effect on employee performance. Studies have shown this. When conducted correctly, they also increase employee satisfaction and motivation. Nevertheless, in many companies, feedback meetings tend to take place sporadically.

A practical example: A department head notices that some of his employees have again failed to achieve the agreed targets. However, he does not express his displeasure about this. So the employees continue to muddle along as before. Because their manager does not address them about the unachieved goals, they are convinced: Our manager is satisfied with our performance. And the unachieved goals are not that important to him. So, over time, the manager's annoyance increases to such an extent that at some point she "explodes". And as a result of her pent-up anger, she takes the wrong tone. This in turn hurts the employees emotionally, creating a conflict that is almost impossible to resolve.

Such escalation can be avoided through regular feedback and employee discussions - among other things, because in them the parties involved articulate their mutual expectations of (their) work together. This is why regular feedback discussions are part of the standard management repertoire in most larger companies - even if it is only as part of the annual target agreement discussions. The situation is different in small and medium-sized companies. There, regular feedback discussions tend to be the exception.

Communicate about goals and expectations

Generally speaking, most managers talk too little with their employees about their work and the expectations and goals associated with it. This is why employees often lack the necessary orientation in their day-to-day work. This is what the employee and feedback meetings are supposed to give them. The following topics can be discussed in them:

• Quality of the (collaborative) work,
• Satisfaction with the work situation,
• Corporate and divisional goals, strategies and plans,
• Duties and responsibilities of the employee,
• Strengths and weaknesses of the employee,
• possible qualification, support measures,
• possible improvements,
• Health Promotion,
• Target and bonus agreement.

Feedback and target-setting meetings are not primarily intended to discuss current problems. Rather, the behavior of the employee (and his or her manager) over a period of time is to be considered in summary in order to clarify how the (joint) work can be improved. Therefore, feedback meetings without preparation make little sense.

Conduct the conversations with conviction

In many larger companies, it is mandatory to conduct regular employee appraisals. That is good in itself! Sometimes, however, this leads to managers only conducting these discussions so that they can report "completion" to the HR department, for example. The quality of the discussions is correspondingly poor.

In order to ensure a minimum level of discussion, it is useful for the manager and employee to independently complete a questionnaire after each appraisal interview and send it to the HR department, for example. The questionnaire may contain questions such as:

• How satisfied are you with the interview process?
• How satisfied were you with the atmosphere?
• How long did the conversation last?
• Were development issues and goals also addressed/agreed upon?
• What could/should change so that you and your conversation partner benefit even more from the next conversation?

Take enough time

One indicator of the quality of an employee or feedback meeting is its duration. Managers should plan at least one hour per employee for this. This is because a relaxed atmosphere is necessary so that sensitive issues can be addressed. The first step is to create this atmosphere.

Feedback meetings are all the more important the more independently and responsibly employees are expected to work. This is because independent work requires adjustment from time to time. This means that managers and employees must agree on tasks and procedures, quality requirements and mutual expectations, among other things.

A well-structured feedback and appraisal interview consists of the following phases:

• Reflection of the past time unit (for example, the past quarter),
• Assessment of the current situation and
• Looking ahead.
• It is particularly important that the employee receives feedback on his "strengths" and "weaknesses". What does he do/can he do well or less well? Because without feedback on this, there is no learning.

The time invested pays off

Research shows that regular employee and feedback discussions positively influence the following factors, among others:

• the relationship between the employees and the supervisor,
• the cooperation and performance,
• the quality thinking
• the independence and responsibility of employees,
• identification with the work and the given goals.

That's why managers should conduct feedback and target-setting meetings with their employees out of inner conviction. Because this is worthwhile - for them, their employees and the company.

To the author: Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön is the owner of Müllerschön Managementberatung, Starzeln in Baden-Württemberg. The business psychologist is the author of several personnel books and was a teaching coach at the University of Tübingen (www.muellerschoen-beratung.de).