Daily Buzz: There’s No Perfect Time to Give Employee Feedback

For many employees, feedback is motivating. When you hear from a manager what you are doing well and where you need to improve, you can use that information to guide your performance and make decisions moving forward.

But for leaders, providing such feedback often falls to the bottom of the to-do list, says Mayke Nagtegaal, COO of cloud-communication platform MessageBird, on TechCrunch  (opens in a new tab). In fact, less than 50 percent of employees surveyed said they received feedback a few times per year, according to Gallup  (opens in a new tab).

So, amid a busy schedule, when is the best time to hold performance reviews?

The answer: There isn’t one.

“You can’t put performance feedback on hold until you have everything ‘ironed out,’” Nagtegaal says. “The pace of business today is too quick to wait for the perfect time, because the ‘perfect time’ may be too late or worse—it may never come at all.”

The takeaway: Take time to recognize employees. Whether your evaluation is positive or not, even a few quick moments to walk through how they’re doing can go a long way in making them feel valued and like you’re invested in their success.

Hello! My Name Is …

Are you wearing your #association  (opens in a new tab) hat today? Err on the side of making more introductions more often. https://t.co/UfvxiIcx9Z  (opens in a new tab) #AssnChat  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/ggNii6jpHW  (opens in a new tab)

— Amanda Lea Kaiser (@AmandaLeaKaiser) November 7, 2019  (opens in a new tab)

Want to strengthen members’ sense of community? Introduce yourself.

“Introductions are a great way of orienting people,” membership researcher Amanda Kaiser says on Smooth the Path  (opens in a new tab). “Associations can help members feel like they know what is going on by making more introductions.”

Consider introductions another onboarding tool. When members know other members, or can identify association staff and board members, they’ll feel like a part of the community faster—which means your organization will be able to prove its value sooner.

Other Links of Note

You use social media to get—well, social. But it’s also an education tool. The Sprout Social blog explains  (opens in a new tab).

Does the color of your office walls lend itself to a productive environment? Quartz at Work shares the science behind why some hues are more effective  (opens in a new tab) in a work setting than others.

With peer-to-peer learning on the top of the list of attendee wants, try these two strategies to encourage attendees to share their personal stories  (opens in a new tab), says MeetingsNet.

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