Quality Employee Feedback

 by Amber Roberts, Extension Educator, Agricultural Business Management

Providing employees with concise feedback can be the difference between being 'that farm' that every farmhand in the county wants to work at and employees being unsatisfied with their work. Quality feedback increases the sense of recognition that employees have and is a primary factor of job satisfaction. There are three types of feedback: positive, redirection, and negative. 

Positive Feedback

Positive feedback motivates employees by providing feelings of personal accomplishments and recognition for their achievements. It also helps to improve future employee performance through building confidence and engaging the employee in their performance. 

How can you improve the quality of positive feedback you give to employees? Start by observing the good behavior. Once the desired behavior is performed, state the specific behavior you are complimenting in a genuine and grateful tone. An example of this might be, "[Employee name], thank you for following through on our emphasis on attention to detail."

When and how should we use redirection or negative feedback?

Although redirection and negative feedback can be uncomfortable to tell employees, feedback is a necessary part of improving employee performance. When done in a respectful and direct manner, can be used as a learning opportunity to better the overall work performance on the farm. 

Redirection feedback should be used when the root cause of undesirable performance is not the fault of the employee. An example, if an employee is unable to finish harvesting the fields because it started raining. The rain is out of the control of the employee and although they did not complete their work, the cause of the poor performance is not the employee's fault. In cases when poor performance is outside of the employee's control, redirection feedback should be implemented. To give redirection feedback the employee should focus on corrective actions that can be taken, such as training, greater clarity in directions, encouragements, or realistic expectations. 

Negative feedback should be given when the cause of poor performance is due to the employee's personal characteristics. For example, the employee is unable to finish harvesting the fields because they did not refuel the combine and ran out of fuel. Negative feedback should include a warning or reprimand that clearly states the consequences if the poor performance continues. 

For more information and examples on quality feedback, listen to the entire podcast. 

Episode 10 Transcript

Episode Content:
02:06 - Herzberg's Factors of Motivation
04:13 - Providing Quality Feedback
05:09 - Why Do We Give Positive feedback?
06:20 - How to Provide Quality Positive Feedback
07:10 - Redirective and Negative Feedback
08:20 - Giving Redirective Feedback, an Example
09:05 - Giving Negative Feedback, an Example
09:50 - When to use Redirection vs Negative Feedback?

Watch the entire Becoming a Great Farm Supervisor: Hiring and Supervision webinar.

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