The Feedback Process

As business owners ourselves, we know first hand that giving and receiving feedback is a hard, but necessary part of improving a business. The process can be burdensome on owners and employees, emotions can run high, and office politics occasionally come into play. But it doesn't have to be this way. The 'why' behind constructive feedback is simple: to continuously develop employee and executive talent, which in turn will benefit the organization.

It's the 'how' that is often the hardest part.

This week, we came across a simple framework for thinking through how to structure the performance feedback process. Instead of the age-old manager-employee reviews, the Harvard Business Review piece highlights the value of aggregating multiple perspectives and combining the various sets of feedback into a comprehensive 360 degree view of the person's performance. Here are a few features to consider when tightening your feedback loops:

1. Set the right cadence. This looks different for different companies and different employees. Most employees need some sort of affirmation that they are on the right track and are developing their skillsets, whether this is a weekly informal check-in or a quarterly formal review. But we recommend setting a cadence that balances the required workload to gather feedback and current time constraints on both manager and employee. The more frequent the formal check-ins, the simpler the feedback collection system must become. There is a real cost in terms of time required to aggregate multiple sources of feedback. In addition, the simpler a feedback system is, the more likely employees are to actually engage in giving meaningful feedback on their peers.

2. Get the right people involved. A broader peer group is preferred for feedback as research has shown that a 'wisdom of the crowds' approach is better at giving 360 degree feedback than one or two people. For employees, this means a cross-section of managers and peers they regularly interact with. For managers and executives, this involves direct reports as well as peers.

3. Establish the goal of the process. Let your employee or manager know up front: it is not criticism, it is meant to be constructive in nature to develop skills and further careers. Give them the most important feedback up-front to set the tone. Ensure that feedback is specific to a category, and avoid blanket statements. In the end, the goal is to give guidances for how to 'level up' as an employee and professional.

4. Be transparent. This is the likely the most difficult piece of the framework because the degree of candor managers and employees can offer is often contingent on the culture of the company. We can't necessarily recommend the level of candor necessary for your organization, but in general, the more the better. Open and honest feedback is the only way organizations move forward. This requires professionalism, thick skin, and the ability to self-reflect from both employees and managers.

Giving feedback is a panacea to your business in two main ways. It can boost employee morale when affirming their work and performance, and it can also serve as a course correcting mechanism for employees who need more guidance and direction. Either way, your business wins.

Inside the whale: an interview with an anonymous Amazonian (Logic Mag)
+ "The rumors that I hear, both internal and external, are that we're very seriously interested in acquiring post office real estate. The reason why the post office is valuable to privatize is because of their real estate holdings. They have great real estate in every downtown of every city in the United States. Amazon may be interested in buying all of the post office locations, and we have the cash to do it. So why not?" (H/T Collaborative Fund)

30 best pieces of advice for entrepreneurs in 2020 (First Round Review)
+ The 30 best pieces from First Round Review in 2020.

Papua New Guinea calling - Digicel's rural expansion (Rest of World)
+ "Whereas most providers long ago capitulated to the trend of offering mobile contract packages, locking customers into rates for months or years at a time, Digicel has taken a different approach since its founding in 2001, relying on the pay-as-you-go model. (These dynamics are described in detail in a 2018 book, The Moral Economy of Mobile Phones.) This is especially well suited to countries without extensive banking systems, as customers can buy minutes when they have cash in hand. As of September 2009, more than 91% of Digicel subscribers used its service on a prepaid basis. This model also allows the company to set a per-minute rate that is far higher than it would be if folded into a rolling contract. In rural Papua New Guinea, most users prefer to purchase small amounts over and over again rather than buying bigger bundles, even if the latter is better value. This is because if somebody has too much credit, friends and family will ask them to share (something that Digicel’s service allows customers to do easily)."

Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions for 2021 (Reuters Institute, Oxford)
+ "But while work efficiency may have improved, newsroom leaders worry about the impact on creativity, at a time when long hours and the increased complexity of production have added to pressures on staff. As we revealed in our Changing Newsrooms report in October1, almost eight in ten (77%) think that remote working has made it harder to build and maintain relationships, with many managers raising concerns about how to communicate effectively and about the mental health of employees."

Finally, a use for the old Sears: vovid-19 vaccine center (Wall Street Journal)
+ "Vast floor plans, sprawling parking lots and easy access to highways that attracted property developers and shoppers during the retailer’s heyday are drawing the attention of health officials. The stores are well-known destinations, and house enough space for workers and vaccine recipients to adhere to social-distancing guidelines."

Three crucial skills that leaders must develop to become executives (The Skip)
+ "Though a successful career requires a blend of soft and hard skills, when you start out, hard skills are considerably more important. But as you head into Act II, your soft skills are more critical to your success. In fact, the professional world is littered with insanely talented leaders who never became executives because they simply didn’t learn how to improve themselves, influence others, or manage their emotions."

Are peer reviews the future of performance evaluations? (Harvard Business Review)
+ "Whether your company is considering a team-based structure or not, we believe there are ways to reinvent performance management and make it more valuable and less boss-centric. The opportunity to create a socially-based feedback system feels even more urgent during the COVID-19 crisis, since many people are working remotely and without the same level of daily interactions with managers. Here’s how such a system generally works. Instead of a performance review created and discussed solely with the boss once a year, the employee receives a larger amount of feedback (often 50 or more instances over the course of a year) from colleagues. This feedback captures the view of their performance and behavioral attitude from the people the employee has been working with on a regular basis. Because the system generates a larger amount of feedback, each individual is less subject to the potentially biased view of a single person: the boss."

Lost passwords lock millionaires out of their bitcoin fortunes (New York Times)
+ "Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million. The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin."

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