Of course, some businesses offer production figures or quality control and reworking data periodically, but that is mere information and not feedback really. This kind of information only gives a hazy idea of the performance of workers.
That kind of information is not likely to cause any major effect on the performance of workers. Feedback, on the other hand is instrumental in bringing the desired changes in performance of people. Performance feedback allows you to understand clearly what the present status is and what is expected of you in the near future.
If the nature of job is such that it can't have a built in system for providing feedback, some system be developed for the workers to know how they are performing as regards to reaching targets. Performance feedback is certainly much more significant if the worker is asked to participate to setting the required standards.
Improvements in productivity don't come on its own. Productivity improvement needs to be encouraged by way of fixing shared goals supported with performance feedback and above all, recognition of others efforts coupled with capable leadership. Achieving the desired productivity in the absence of any of these seems far fetched, to say the least. Performance feedback on its own can't work as a magic wand and deliver higher or improved levels of productivity.
A very convenient, yet an effective way of providing performance feedback is the use of graphs that are prepared by the worker himself. If the worker has already been informed of the goal by mutual discussions, he will strive to reach the defined goal and deliver better output than if the goal were imposed upon him. Graphs prove to be useful tools, better than charts or texts as they have more visual appeal and are easier to understand and figure out. At a glance you know the present status or may compare the performance over a period of time. It can further be interpreted to know the likely future trends to reasonably accurate estimates.
The utility of simple graphs is best appreciated by leaders and workers alike. The leader uses it as a good accessory for initiating his talks with his subordinates for illustrating the positive contributions and thus expresses appreciation of individuals or teams for achieving goals. Workers on the other hand, use graphs on a day to day basis to know and keep track of their productivity. These serve as powerful tools for motivating people to repeat and further improve the performance.
It's not difficult to guess the consequences of asking an operator to draw his own graphs or complete graph for the whole of his team- the next day the productivity shows an upward trend! That's because the operator gets to know a first knowledge of his productivity and makes an effort to improve upon his individual performance or the collective performance of his team. The situation is self-motivating.
Well, there are managers who would complain that talking with their team is time consuming and results to loss of man hours and hence production. They would need some persuasion for trying it out and once they try it, they are sure to be astonished by the outcome. It's difficult to imagine a participating football team not to have a game plan preceding an important match.
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