A Guide to the Eleventh Element of Employee Engagement: Prioritizing Progress-Based Feedback

Consider your workplace’s relationship with feedback. Is it treated like an annual obligation that managers have to check off of their to-do lists? If so, you and your leadership team miss countless opportunities to motivate and course-correct.?

Employees don’t wait until their yearly performance review to grow and change; you shouldn’t wait until then to let them know you’ve noticed. Thus, Gallup’s Eleventh Element of Employee Engagement is:

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

When you embrace the concept of progress-based feedback, you’re keeping your employees engaged and feeling valued, showing them that you see how far they’ve come. In doing so, you’re also reinforcing their strengths and helping them identify areas of improvement, even if it’s as simple as giving them a quick comment right after a client meeting or scheduling several pulse checks during a long-term project.?

We’ll share examples of progress-based feedback you can use to kindle your employees’ engagement and growth momentum.?

Milestone Feedback?

When completing long, high-focus projects, milestone feedback is an opportunity to pause at key moments to acknowledge your employees’ progress, celebrate successes, and offer guidance for them to carry into further phases. It’s designed to be proactive rather than reactive, allowing for real-time course corrections so that small issues don’t snowball into bigger ones. And, of course, it also reinforces the behaviors and decisions that lead to long-term success.?

Another advantage of milestone feedback is that you’re guiding employees through the small steps, keeping energy high and preventing overwhelm during a long-haul stressor. Because they feel supported and are reminded that they’re capable along the way, they’re more likely to follow through and finish strong.?

Examples of Milestone Feedback

• “The research here is thorough, and you’ve laid the groundwork really well. Before moving forward, I suggest reworking the introduction to highlight a few major data points. We can hook the audience’s attention faster that way.?
• “Great job hitting that target already! Because we have an entire half-quarter left, I’d love to pull you off the sales floor in a couple of weeks to attend a conference on client retention strategies so those sales numbers start to accumulate over time.?
• I’m proud of how well the launch went, and you should be proud too. You worked really hard. Now that we’ve got users on the site, let’s review any feedback so we can tweak the interface as needed and pull out some positives we can take into our next launch.
• “The rollout was smooth, and the response has been great. Now that we’ve gathered some data, let’s brainstorm how to extend our reach for the next part of the campaign.”
• “You’re off to a strong start, and I’m particularly impressed by your reporting. Why don’t we set aside a few hours after lunch tomorrow? I’ll show you some tips for enhancing the visuals to support your messaging better.?

Real-Time Feedback

Arguably, the most direct and timely form of progress-based feedback happens in real-time, either during or immediately following a particular behavior. This makes it easier for employees to understand the context of the feedback and take immediate action if necessary.?

Reinforcement is one of the biggest advantages of real-time feedback because it’s easier for the employee to connect your words with their actions, speeding up the learning process. It also demonstrates to your team that you are paying attention to their efforts, something they’ll appreciate more and more as feedback becomes more consistent.?

Examples of Real-Time Feedback

• “You did a fantastic job delivering that presentation, and your pace was just right. I appreciate you stopping to see if there were any questions, and I can tell that the team did too.
• “I noticed that you’re managing the workflow well with the content team, but there’s a gap with the design team. Let’s sit down with the department lead to figure out how to ease that bottleneck.”
• “That was a really insightful comment, and I think an excellent segue into the next docket item. Would you like to lead that discussion?”
• “You did an excellent job of resolving the issue quickly, but I noticed that you started to sound frustrated towards the end of the call. What about the conversation that felt different than before?”

Goal-Oriented Feedback

Big-picture thinkers who struggle with taking the incremental steps necessary to achieve a goal may respond best to goal-oriented feedback, during which you tie your comments back to the larger objective that person is trying to achieve. This form of progress-based feedback gives more meaning to the work that your team is doing by directly communicating why their actions matter.?

It’s also quite powerful in increasing employees’ sense of personal accountability. Your insights into their growth encourage them to take ownership of their progress, knowing that their day-to-day efforts matter as much as the final outcome.?

Examples of Goal-Oriented Feedback

• “You’ve demonstrated commitment to developing your analytics skills, and it’s showing in your work. If we see this consistency in the next quarter, I’m prepared to discuss the company paying for online courses to prepare you for advancement.?
• “I’m impressed with the moves you’ve made so far with managing your due dates. I certainly see you coming off your personal improvement plan soon, so long as you keep it up.”
• “While I am very appreciative of your willingness to take on whatever is asked of you since your move into the management team, I’m concerned about your hesitancy to delegate. No one expects you to do so much on your own, so I think the next step in your transition would be taking a day each week to assign tasks to each of your team members and meeting with them to discuss your expectations.”

Developmental Feedback

In a previous article about Gallup’s 12 Elements of Employee Engagement, we discussed how important it is that your employees feel encouraged to continue having a positive trajectory in their professional growth. Developmental feedback should be a natural part of cultivating those relationships with your team, as it’s oriented toward identifying opportunities for future leadership or skill development. When done correctly and consistently, it evolves into an ongoing conversation that helps employees stay motivated as they “check off” the various steps of attaining their long-term career goals.?

Because developmental feedback focuses on potential, it’s almost always encouraging. Instead of saying, “This is what you did wrong,” or “Here’s where I want you to improve,” you’re telling them that you see something bigger for them down the line based on the things they’re doing well right now.?

That long-term view also creates more engagement with the company because changing jobs means starting all over again with a new leader. What would be the benefit of going elsewhere if a good leader is clearly invested in them where they work right now? Likely nothing reasonable enough to justify the stress of job hunting.?

Examples of Developmental Feedback

• “You have a natural ability to think creatively and find unique solutions to challenges. I’d like to see you apply those skills in a more strategic setting by joining the leadership team during our next budget meeting.”
• “Your rapport with clients has been exceptional, and I could see you working with larger portfolio negotiations in the very near future. Would you be interested in sitting down with the client negotiations team to learn more about how you can prepare?”
• “With how often your peers come to you for guidance. I think it’s time for you to step into more of a mentorship role.”
• “I’m amazed by how deftly you react to new challenges. Let’s involve you in the upcoming change management task force so you can help lead the way when future challenges arise.”

Progress-Based Feedback Is an Investment With Infinite Returns

When running a business, it’s easy to push feedback to the back burner and tell yourself that it can wait another day. The truth is that building progress-based feedback into your everyday interactions with your team is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your company’s long-term success. As you get better at giving it, you’ll see the returns in the intangible assets that are often so difficult to cultivate—better productivity, lower turnover, more satisfaction, and an overall more pleasant workplace culture.

Providing progress-based feedback, like any leadership skill, can be developed, and the best way to hone the ability is working with Lori Moen of Catalyst Group ECR. Lori helps leaders become more accountable to the feedback they give and develop the strategies necessary to integrate it into their everyday practice.?

Invest in yourself and in your team by scheduling leadership coaching sessions with Lori today!

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