Example Employee Feedback Sheet

In my previous post about giving feedback to your employees, I promised to post an example feedback that I gave to one of my employees. So, here it is:

Areas of Excellence:

-Performance. For a guy straight out of the school, your maturity surprised me. Within 3 months of working here, you assumed all responsibilities as Logistics Manager two weeks prior to a major operation and saw us through it. As I stated in your performance review, I view you as above average for your peer group. What sets your performance apart is your mindset, you look at everything as a growth opportunity, you ask questions, ask for input, and accept feedback. Your mindset allowed you to achieve results in a new and challenging environment.
-Initiative. You don’t wait to be told what to do; you find work where it’s needed. You consistently pursued improvement in every aspect of our section and took independent action to make changes/improvements. Continue to look for areas to improve and apply yourself there.
-Resourcefulness. You are a quick thinker and you consistently found creative solutions to our myriad of Logistics related problems. You made relationships with other internal organizations to ask favors and you are able to quickly utilize those relationships to our benefit. Keep expanding your network and pursuing creative solutions.
-You don’t let roadblocks stop you. Most people will hit one road block and then just report back… you hit a roadblock and find a way around the problem to get results. I love your attitude.
-Work ethic. You’re hungry and there’s no doubt about that. You work efficiently and you’re willing to work long hours when you have to.
-Example. You set a strong example with your physical appearance, grooming, and clothing.

Areas of Improvement:

-Off-duty learning: You did more professional eduction reading than we needed to and I appreciate that. Clearly you are investing in learning to be the best leader that you can. I challenge you to continue that and add more personal reading/courses/etc.. to round out your development (not just materials that focus specifically on our job).
-Leading People. This is one of the hardest things we will do. I noticed that you personally get work done. You take matters into your hands and make it happen quickly. I like that, don’t get me wrong. My challenge to you is to do less personally. Task, Teach, and Supervise. Get your team to work for you. Break your responsibilities into work segments and task those out to your team. Your people will grow by taking on more and more challenging tasks.
-Developing your people and looking out for their wellbeing. I want to see you spend more time teaching and engaging in the personal lives of your team. It’s time consuming, but in the long run, that time spent on one of your junior employees will help develop them into an excellent employee and future leader in our organization.
-Aggression. This is more cautionary than anything else. The only time that I saw you approach a situation with force was when (name) didn’t return all the items he borrowed from you. Your approach worked. He brought the goods back, but be wary of burning bridges. This is a relationship run organization. Keep your relationships strong.

Other notes on running the feedback session:

When I deliver this feedback to an employee, my intent is to give them something tangible and actionable to work on until the next time we meet to discuss performance.

Feedback needs to be two way. You are giving your employee feedback and coaching on their performance, but it is also a perfect time to ask questions and hear what your employee thinks.

Ask your employee questions in these following areas:

1. Themself. Ask them about their own self-assessment, personal life, any challenges or concerns they might have. Do they agree with your assessment of them?
2. Yourself. How can you lead, manage, and work with your employee better?
3. The team. Does your employee have any suggestions on how the team/organization can improve.

Setting. I try to do feedback in a semi-private and casual location. People don’t like your airing their dirty laundry within earshot of co-workers. I like doing feedback in coffee shops or over lunch to keep the conversation casual and as open as possible.

Share your thoughts in the comments!