Feedback Vs. Performance Assessment

At times we fail to distinguish between feedback and performance assessments, using them interchangeably. The result is often delayed feedback, shared once or twice a year during reviews, that’s viewed by the employee as a fault finding exercise. Equally, the manager feels disgruntled as they see resistance in acceptance to the combined review/ feedback.

#Feedback is meant to be a continuous endeavor, to help improve performance. The more timely and granular it is, the more implementable. While top down feedback is the most common route, feedback should flow in multiple directions - top down, bottom-up, and peer to peer – in order to build a holistic perspective.

#PerformanceAssessment, in contrast, is really an evaluation by the reporting manager, (ideally) against set goals. By essence, the focus is on measurement and reward. It doesn’t need the nth level of detail on hits & misses, but rather on the big picture view of how the performance has been. Another critical element is realigning on the forward looking expectations.

The two are complimentary & not substitutes! Feedback without performance assessment seldom yields the desired behavioral change, and performance assessment without feedback is likely to drive disengagement & mistrust.