In a truly facinating post at Fast Company, Heath Row discusses an academic study that attempts to understand the optimal ratio of positive feedback to negative feedback. Apparently a positive/negative ratio of between 2.9 and 11.6 (2.9 – 11.6 positive for every one instance of negative feedback) is an optimal ratio for “human flourishing.”
One of the authors, Marcial Losada, commented on the post with the following: “High performance teams and marriages that last and are happy with their relationship will have a P/N ratio around 5. Low performance teams and marriages ending in divorce typically have a ratio between 0.4 and 0.9; i.e., more negativity than positivity. If your P/N ratio is above 11.6 you don’t have enough grounding and your excess of optimism will soon be deflated by a world that requires a healthy dosis of negative feedback.”
Amazing how too little or too much positive feedback can have a huge effect on performance, or identify a relationship (work or personal) that’s in trouble. It would be interesting to see how this could relate to performance reviews. Perhaps it’s a guideline by which we should judge our own evaluations?
September 27th, 2005 at 10:49 pm
I think you are missing the point. Your company has an interesting name – SuccessFactors. It calls to question two big questions all of us have faced – what is “success” and what are the “factors”. That might be more than your readers want to explore at this time. How do you define success? What are the factors that determine success? Expectations are like the like the pants we wear. Who defines what is expected and when? Performance is defined by the expectations surrounded by the time and space in which those expecations are set. Are you rated by how much money you make or whether or not you have something to say? We all must work for a living, but how can we make our working time meaningful? Does it matter? If my work is not meaningful today, will it be tomorrow?
Your company appears to care about things like “performance” and “alignment”. These are terms I hear from the man who works on my car. How do people define performance? People, working people, not all the Phds, MBA, ODs, OEs, EIOs that might read this blog. What do REAL people think? Do people give a **** ? I think people want to do something good or they want to do something better. What are you doing about that?
September 28th, 2005 at 11:08 am
You’ve got some good points. I think the idea that expectations constitute the environment in which performance is measured is right on. That’s why true evaluation can only take place when goals (aka expectations) are clear – and agreed upon by both the employee and manager.
As far as whether or not people care about such things depends, in part, on whether they work for companies that care. If as a company I make it clear that X is what is expected of my employees, and that they will be rewarded for their accomplishments, I think that employees will (and do) care.
My experience is that most people want to know what they can do to improve – and how they’ll be rewarded when they do.
September 28th, 2005 at 1:03 pm
The Human Side of Performance Management
Here’s a quote from a comment that was made on an earlier post: Your company appears to care about things like "performance" and "alignment". These are terms I hear from the man who works on my car. How do people…
October 30th, 2005 at 4:05 pm
What forum do you feel is best for positive feedback? Verbal, e-mail, public recognition, performance review?