How Informal Feedback Can Improve Employee Performance

What is the difference between formal and informal feedback?

The primary differences between formal and informal feedback are the timing and structure of how feedback is given.

Formal feedback

Formal feedback is structured and planned. Performance reviews, which are a common example of formal feedback, are often used to address the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, and to identify ways for the employee to improve performance moving forward.

Formal feedback can also be given in recurring one-on-one meetings between an employee and their direct manager.

“Other examples of formal feedback sessions that are invaluable are regular, scheduled one-on-one sessions, maybe weekly or every other week,” Joey Klein, founder and CEO of Inner Matrix Systems, told us. “Those sessions are more valuable to get inside of where the employee is and what’s going on for them.”

Informal feedback

Informal feedback is spontaneous and less rigidly structured. It can occur at any time or location. This type of feedback is more immediate and can instantly impact an employee’s day-to-day performance because it doesn’t mean waiting for that scheduled meeting, which could be days or months away from happening, to give it. It is often a two-way form of communication.

“For the person leading the feedback conversation, they should always be aware of the timing, goal and delivery of both types of feedback,” said Leah de Souza, talent management expert and principal consultant at Trainmar Consulting.

Why is informal feedback important?

Employees want to perform well, and informal feedback helps them meet their performance goals.

“If we wait for a whole week to go by until our next formal scheduled check-in, that’s a lot of time, a lot of work hours that pass without having an opportunity to adjust to hit our weekly marks, which leads to our monthly marks, which leads to our quarterly marks,” said Klein.

Sometimes the best teaching moments can’t be planned, which is another reason why informal feedback is valuable. Informal feedback reinforces good behavior.

“If a leader is doing their job … observing … learning moments in their direct reports, informal feedback allows them to capture and ultimately capitalize on that moment, whenever it happens,” said de Souza.

Informal feedback is also essential for employee morale. Managers can provide instant praise and recognition when an employee does something right. This praise has a more significant impact when it is given in the moment, as opposed to several months later.

“Informal feedback is important because it is a demonstration of a trusting, positive relationship,” said Megan Leasher, former chief solutions strategist at Talent Plus. “It conveys that something should be shared and that I care enough about you to share it right away.”

Pros of informal feedback

There are several advantages to integrating informal feedback processes in your business, which can impact your bottom line.

Course correction

Informal feedback gives employees the ability to correct their mistakes instantly. There is a good chance that an employee doesn’t realize what they are doing wrong, and if you don’t offer them immediate feedback about it, they won’t be inclined to correct their behavior. This process allows employees to grow and hone their skills quicker than they would otherwise.

“By waiting until an annual or biannual meeting to discuss the event, the leader and employee have missed the opportunity to dissect and build on what happened,” said Scott Whiteford, director of leadership analytics at Talent Plus. “In many cases, the event may have become larger or smaller based on the time and importance.

>> Learn more: 5 Ways to Improve Transfer of Learning in the Workplace

Employee recognition

Informal feedback doesn’t always have to be negative — it can be given when an employee does something exceptionally well.

“With informal feedback, if we give a bit of authentic encouragement that we’re noticing the person is doing a good job, then they are encouraged to continue hitting the mark,” said Klein.

Although you may be tempted to constantly praise your employees, managers and business leaders must be diligent about which behaviors they positively reinforce with informal feedback if they want it to be effective. Excessive positive feedback can lose its value and authenticity.

Communication

Once employees and managers are comfortable giving and receiving informal feedback, it creates a company culture of open communication, where employees feel encouraged to speak to their managers about any problems they are experiencing without fear of retaliation. It also forces managers to think more critically about employee performance and communicate with employees about it more frequently.

Builds trust

Frequent informal feedback helps employees and leaders see eye to eye about the employee’s performance.

“With informal feedback, the employee is more likely going to build trust with his or her leader, because they know what the leader is thinking based on the feedback,” said Whiteford.

If a manager brings up something negative during a formal feedback meeting that the employee wasn’t aware of, the employee might wonder why the manager never brought it up before. Informal feedback helps to avoid this situation by building rapport and trust.

Cons of informal feedback

Although informal feedback is a valuable communication tool that every business should implement, a few potential limitations can be associated with it.

Risk of overreaction

Since informal feedback occurs spontaneously, it leaves room for error. Managers must be diligent about how they give informal feedback and what they say. Informal feedback should not be given when you are emotional or lack all the facts of a story. If a manager provides negative feedback in the heat of the moment, it may come across too harsh and will not have the desired effect.

Lack of documentation

Informal feedback is often not documented, which can lead to challenges regarding employee performance improvement plans. If you are providing informal feedback about a new course of action for an employee, document it for future reference. This will help track employee progress and assess improvement at a formal feedback meeting.

Inconsistent adoption

Some managers may feel uncomfortable providing authentic feedback in an informal setting, especially if that feedback is negative. This can cause inconsistencies in how often a leader provides informal feedback. And since it’s a spontaneous act that the leader directs, some leaders may provide more feedback to certain employees than others. Inconsistencies can cause informal feedback to be less effective.

Creation of redundancies

If managers are unsure about what specific behaviors they should address in an informal setting, it can cause them to share the same information in informal and formal feedback settings. Managers must balance what they discuss formally and informally with their direct reports.

Examples of informal feedback

Encourage your employees to provide specific, informal feedback. Here are some examples of what informal feedback looks like.

Below are some examples of reinforcing positive performance:

• “Great job on achieving XYZ! I know it was a tough project, and it turned out great.”
• “I appreciate how innovative you were with streamlining XYZ! I think our team would benefit from learning what you did differently.”

Here are some examples of correcting poor performance:

• “During the team exercise, what do you think went well? What can be improved?”
• “I noticed that you are making several sales calls each day, which is great, but you aren’t closing many sales. Let’s review your sales pitch to see where we can adjust it to better meet our clients’ needs.”

How to give informal feedback

Giving informal feedback varies depending on whom you are providing feedback to, but there is a general framework that every business leader can follow to make it effective. The first step is for the leader to adopt an informal feedback mentality; they must be prepared to give informal feedback and understand when it is and isn’t appropriate to share that feedback.

De Souza listed a five-step process for giving informal feedback:

1. The leader assesses if an informal coaching moment for a specific individual is needed.
2. The leader chooses the appropriate place and time. Depending on the environment and emotion at the time, immediate feedback may not always be best. This is especially true in the case of constructive feedback.
3. The leader may choose to ask the employee for two minutes of their time, so the discussion is not viewed as a top-down activity.
4. The leader lets the employee know what they specifically observed and what they think of it, and then asks the team member to share their thoughts. In the case of constructive feedback, the leader should ask the team member if they think anything went wrong and what can be done to fix it.
5. Both parties either agree to continue with the current behavior (positive) or make a change with a deadline for the modified behavior (constructive). In the case of positive informal feedback, the moment can also be fun (e.g., high five, happy dance, sharing praise with the team).

Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.