This series will give background information and examples for the questions you will see on the upcoming Gallup Employee Engagement Survey.

Q11:  In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.

The best leaders view conducting a formal performance review and giving feedback as an opportunity.  It’s the chance to understand what your employee wants from their career and to discuss how well they are progressing towards those goals. Feedback helps employees understand themselves better and gives them a clear perspective on how their contributions make a difference to the organization.

It is important to the employee and to the business for each person to know how their work is perceived.  It doesn’t matter if their career goal is to go up a level or to improve skills, we all want to know that we are growing and making progress to our own internal goals.

Use the formal performance review process to provide that needed feedback.  Take it seriously and prepare for it.  Review your Leadership Performance Index and other performance data before the session.  Provide specific examples and data to ensure that the session is useful to you and the employee.

Less formal feedback should also be given on a regular basis.  When you know your employee’s short and long-term career goals you can use coaching, teaching and tasking to help them gain the skills needed to achieve those goals.

The time and effort that you put into focusing on the growth and progress of your employees will make both of you more successful.