chapter 6 | Getting People to Work Together 85for evaluating the feedback you receive are also
the same.
When Is Evaluative Feedback Needed?
You may find yourself in a work situation in which
you receive very little feedback, or you may be get-
ting only positive and no negative comments (or
vice versa) (Box 6-7).
You also need to look for feedback when you
feel uncertain about how well you are doing or
whether you have interpreted the expectations of
the job correctly. The following are examples of
these situations:
■You have been told that good patient care is the
highest priority, but you feel frustrated by never
having enough staff members to give good care.
■You thought you were expected to do case find-
ing and health teaching in your community, but
you receive the most recognition for the number
of home visits made and the completeness of
your records.
Another instance in which you should request
feedback is when you believe that your needs for
recognition and job satisfaction have not been met
adequately.
Request feedback in the form of “I” messages. If
you have received only negative comments, ask, “In
what ways have I done well?” If you receive only
positive comments, you can ask, “In what areas do
I need to improve?” If you are seeking feedback
from a patient, you could ask, “How can I be of
more help to you?”
Responding to Evaluative Feedback
Sometimes, it is appropriate to critically analyze the
feedback you are getting. If the feedback seems
totally negative or you feel threatened by receiving
it, ask for further explanation. You may have misun-
derstood what your nurse manager intended to say.
It is hard to avoid responding defensively to
negative feedback that is subjective or laced with
threats and blame. If you are the recipient of such a
poorly done evaluation, however, it may help both
you and your supervisor to try to guide the discus-
sion into more constructive areas. You can ask for
reasons why the evaluation was negative, on what
standard it was based, what the person’s expecta-
tions were, and what the person suggests as alterna-
tive behavior.
When the feedback is positive but nonspecific,
you may also want to ask for some clarification so
that you can learn what that person’s expectations
really are. Do not hesitate to seek that psychologi-
cal paycheck. Tell other people about your successes;
most are happy to share the satisfaction of a suc-
cessful outcome or positive development in a
patient’s care.Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal is the formal evaluation of an
employee by a superior, usually a manager or super-
visor. To prepare an appraisal, the employee’s behav-
ior is compared with his or her job description and
the standard describing how the employee is
expected to perform (Hayes, 2002). Employees
need to know what has to be done, how much has
to be done, and when it has to be done. Evaluate
actual performance, not good intentions.Procedure
In the ideal situation, the performance appraisal
begins when the employee is hired. Based on the
written job description, the employee and manager
discuss performance expectations and then write a
set of objectives they think the employee can rea-
sonably accomplish within a given time. The objec-
tives should be written at a level of performance
that demonstrates that some learning, refinement
of skill, or advancement toward some long-range
objective will have occurred. The following are
examples of objectives a new staff nurse could
accomplish in the first 6 months of employment:
■Complete the staff nurse orientation program
successfully.
■Master the basic skills necessary to function as a
staff nurse on the assigned unit.
■Supervise the unlicensed assistive personnel
assigned to his or her patients.
Monthly reviews of progress toward these goals help
keep the new staff member on track and providebox 6-7
Situations in Which to Ask for Feedback- When you do not know how well you are doing
- When you receive only positive comments
- When you receive only negative comments
- When you believe that your accomplishments have not
been recognized