Feedback is scary

“Feedback is scary - and it’s just as scary when you’re giving feedback as it is when you’re receiving feedback.” 

“My performance evaluation wasn’t graded fairly. My supervisor didn’t take into consideration all the changes that took place during the pandemic and how it affected our team.” 

I have a survey floating around on LinkedIn, asking the community if they were happy with their performance evaluation in 2020. It’s a pretty tough thing, asking a person how they feel about a grade attached to their performance and contribution. 

Gallup wrote a great article just a few months back about workplace insights from 2020, and one paragraph in particular stood out to me:

“Prior to COVID-19, traditional performance management was plagued with infrequent, irregular feedback and goal setting that became irrelevant before the next annual review came around. The pandemic ended up exposing the flaws in this system.”

It makes me wonder where the infrequent, irregular feedback is coming from.

Is it fear? Are we afraid to tell our employees that they’re doing (or not doing) what we ask of them? 

And if that’s the case, what exactly is it that we’re afraid of? 

I have a feeling that answering this question will help me answer a few other questions related to promotions within remote teams. 

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