The Feedback Disconnect: If Everyone Wants It, Why Aren’t We Giving It?

Available for Interviews:  Dr. Kelly Waltman

Kelly Waltman, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of SLR Leadership Consultion, LLC. She is also the author of Elevate Connection: Cutivate and Engaged, Inspired, Productive and Profitable Team Culture.

What Dr. Kelly Waltman can say in an interview
on Feedback in Business
:

We suffer from a significant feedback disconnect in the workplace. Consider some recent research:

      • Research shows that the overwhelming majority of the American workforce craves feedback. As highlighted in the Harvard Business Review, 72% of workers believe their performance would improve with constructive feedback, and research from Officevibe showed 83% of employees want feedback whether it’s positive or critical. Officevibe also found that 98% of workers state they will fail to be engaged when managers give little to no feedback.

      • However, merely a quarter or less of the American workforce is receiving meaningful and actionable feedback. 
      • As highlighted in the most recent Gallup’s State of the American Workforce Report, only 23% of employees strongly agree to receiving meaningful feedback from their manager and only 26% strongly agree that the feedback they receive actually helps them do better work. Additionally, only 20% of employees strongly agree to having a conversation with their manager within the last 6 months to discuss specific steps they could take toward goal attainment.
      • It’s worth noting that these findings were all pre-pandemic. And while we can’t (yet) definitively draw conclusions that the past year made this dynamic worse, it seems safe to infer that the abrupt shift to remote work (for many), the unprecedented demands on the workforce, and the accompanying increases in stress levels, have likely enhanced a disconnect that was already in existence.

So I challenge all of us to ask, what are we doing to bridge the divide? Are we regularly checking in with team members and providing a healthy balance of positive and critical feedback? Are we setting regular goal meetings and coaching your team members to achievement? Make it a priority to give regular feedback to keep them engaged and inspired. Repair the disconnect.

 

Interview: Dr. Kelly Waltman

Kelly Waltman, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of SLR Leadership Consultion, LLC. She is also the author of Elevate Connection: Cutivate and Engaged, Inspired, Productive and Profitable Team Culture. Located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, SLR Leadership Consulting offers individual- and team-based coaching and professional development services with an emphasis on workplace culture, communication, and getting comfortable with feedback. 

With over twenty years of experience developing and delivering curricula, Dr. Waltman has a passion for helping individuals learn and grow. From the classroom to the boardroom, she has designed content for groups of all sizes. She also brings over a decade of managerial and leadership experience to her work—holding director-level positions with previous employers, and serving as a board member for local non-profit organizations.

In addition to her work with SLR Leadership Consulting,  Dr. Waltman founded She Leads and Reads, a monthly book club, and content curation site focused on personal and professional development books.

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Jo Allison
Managing Editor
Director of Public Relations
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