How to use peer feedback from surveys for good (it’s not easy) – Part 2

This article is the second in a series on how managers can better use peer “feedback” from surveys.  In general, a manager should be dubious about the quality of feedback that information provided on peer feedback surveys, since they are non-specific and time delayed.  At best, this information provides clues and subtext for what is actually happening, and don’t reach the bar of performance feedback, but instead is general info.  In the previous article, I discussed how managers should

1. Treat the info as clues
2. Stick to directly observed behaviors
3. Ask for specific and immediate feedback from peers (instead of waiting for the survey to come around)

Today, I’d like to focus on using this information that the survey provides to understand the greater system that is driving the performance of your employees.

4. Use peer feedback as a basis for a strategy session with your employee

I’ve written before about how when giving performance feedback, isn’t always about the individual performance of an employee.  Many times, peer feedback can reveal these systemic challenges with the job.

For example, if you get feedback from your employee’s peer that your employee is “absent from the discussion,” this could mean a lot of things.  Don’t immediately assume that being “absent from the discussion” is a bad thing on the part of your employee.  It may have been a good choice, given the other work demands, and reveal what you as the manager can do to help the employee function better in the environment.  Your employee may have been “absent” because the employee had other meetings scheduled and had to prioritize.  Or someone somewhere has decided that being present was important, even though it is not.

These kinds of situations are common, so leveraging the peer feedback to strategize on what needs to be done is a valid approach.  You can engage the employee by saying, “I hear from Alex that you were considered ‘absent from the decision making process on the business requirements.  I’m not sure that this is a bad thing.  Let’s talk about what this means and what we can do about it.”

In this case, the feedback isn’t a unidirectional, “You need to change,” but instead a, “Let’s strategize so that you don’t get tagged with this ‘absent from the discussion’ mark and make sure we work together to focus on the things that are best for the team.”  (See this series on employee strategy sessions for more info.)

Employees like managers who look at things from the employee’s perspective, and take active steps as a team to resolve issues!  Treating what could be interpreted as an individual performance issue (as surfaced by peer feedback from surveys) is a way to build trust with your employees.

Ok, so not all peer feedback from surveys is useless, despite its time delay and generalities.  It can give you clues, it can beget more specific feedback, and it can reveal systemic problems not related to the employee’s specific behavior.  So there’s some value.  But note peer feedback from surveys is not something to be taken lightly, and is merely an input to the manager’s job, not a proxy for it.

Peer feedback is the subtext, and your direct observation gets closer to the text of the actual behavior.  Try to stick with the text.

For you aspiring management designers out there, what do you do to make sure managers handle peer feedback tactfully and appropriately?  How have you experienced the usage of peer feedback to improve behavior?  How well was it done?

Related articles:

How to use peer feedback from surveys for good (it’s not easy) Part 1

Tips for how managers should use indirect sources of information about employees

What to do when you receive a customer complaint about your employee’s performance

How to use strategy sessions as a way to manage indirect sources of info about your employees (part 1)

How to use strategy sessions as a way to manage indirect sources of info about your employees (part 2)

How to use strategy sessions as a way to manage indirect sources of info about your employees (part 3)

Why peer feedback from surveys doesn’t qualify as feedback

Examples of how peer feedback from surveys is misused by managers

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