On their own, annual or semi-annual performance reviews are too infrequent and too burdensome a process to keep your people motivated and performing at their best.
It’s why 63% of U.S workers are looking for more immediate feedback on their work performance.
They know that timely, continuous feedback from managers and peers is the key to improving performance and developing crucial skills. Without it, employees are left in the dark for months, leading to low morale, poor performance, and high turnover.
But getting managers and colleagues to deliver continuous feedback isn’t as simple as wanting them to—it requires a cultural shift.
This guide is here to help. Read on to learn how to embed continuous feedback in your organization so that daily praise and advice translates to long-term performance gains.
This guide will cover:
- What is a continuous feedback system?
- Benefits of continuous feedback - plus a Microsoft case study that shows them in action
- Expert tips on how to build a culture of continuous feedback at your company (so you nurture more high performers)
- Common pitfalls with continuous feedback programs and how to avoid them
- Continuous feedback - FAQs
What is a continuous feedback system?
A continuous feedback system emphasizes ongoing, real-time communication and feedback between managers, employees, and peers throughout the year, rather than relying solely on annual or semi-annual formal reviews.
It’s a popular choice for companies who want to take a performance enablement approach.
Performance enablement focuses on supporting employees in real-time to develop their skills, meet business aligned goals, and have meaningful touchpoints with their managers. Continuous feedback is the glue that holds those outcomes together.
A continuous feedback system has these key features:
- Frequent check-ins with managers: Holding meetings weekly, bi-weekly, or after key milestones ensures everyone receives timely, relevant feedback.
- Two-way communication: A continuous feedback system encourages open dialogue between employees and managers about performance for a more engaged and motivated workforce.
- Specific and actionable insights: Continuous feedback is direct, actionable, and concretely identifies areas for improvement so employees know exactly how to achieve better results.
- Focused on development and growth: A continuous feedback system prioritizes skill development and learning so employees can focus on growing in their current roles and preparing for future opportunities.
- Well-rounded feedback from multiple parties: With 360-degree reviews that include feedback from managers, peers, and other relevant parties, employees have a more comprehensive view of their performance to understand what’s working and identify areas for improvement.
Benefits of continuous feedback [+ A real example of it at work]
Rather than relying on insights that only come once a year during annual reviews, employees get the guidance they need when it matters most.
Companies with a culture of continuous feedback often see these results:
- Improved performance. With continuous feedback, employees can make quick adjustments and prevent long periods of underperformance. In fact, one O.C. Tanner study found 37% of employees want more personal recognition and feedback because it would encourage them to produce higher-quality work more often.
- Higher engagement. Gallup research found that employees who receive daily feedback from their manager, rather than annual feedback, are 3.6x more likely to be engaged at work. And with higher engagement comes a greater commitment to work.
- Stronger relationships. When feedback is continuous and open, employees and managers can tackle challenges and celebrate achievements together. This strengthens the bond between them and allows trust to flourish.
- Lower turnover rates. According to a Textio study, employees who receive low-quality feedback from their managers are 63% more likely to leave their jobs. Whereas employees who receive regular recognition for their hard work and suggestions for how to improve are generally more invested in their organizations.
Microsoft is an excellent example of how continuous feedback can transform a company’s culture and performance. In 2014, the company moved away from stack rankings and annual reviews to a more continuous feedback approach.
This included the introduction of regular check-ins between managers and employees called “Connects”. It was these informal, frequent meetings that allowed for timely, relevant feedback and joint goal-setting.
Microsoft still uses continuous feedback to this day and has seen a boost in employee engagement and performance.
The company has even received several culture-related awards in 2022, including Best Company Culture, Best Global Culture, and Happiest Employees.
How to build a culture of continuous feedback at your company (So you nurture more high performers) [With expert tips]
Continuous feedback doesn’t just “happen” overnight. You and your management team must work to make it happen and reinforce it when it does.
Below are four steps, sourced from HR experts, that will help you encourage timely and continuous feedback throughout your organization.
Step 1. Integrate feedback into your company culture
Promoting continuous feedback throughout your organization starts by embedding it into your overall company culture, from the top down.
When employees at all levels of your organization feel safe to share feedback with direct reports, higher-ups, and peers, they are more open to addressing improvement needs and giving recognition in a timely fashion.
We recommend having your senior leaders start praising publicly the efforts of those below them and privately have 1:1s where they can give advice.
One great example of this principle in action is Typeform’s company culture. When the software company tripled in size in 2016, its leaders decided to formalize the continuous feedback processes that had been happening spontaneously among its small team.
In addition to regular 1:1 meetings, peer recognition tools, and structured onboarding processes, Typeform implemented a digital suggestion box, 360 feedback processes, and frequent employee engagement surveys.
With these organization-wide feedback processes, Typeform integrated open dialogue, timely recognition, and a focus on growth and improvement into the core of its company culture. More importantly, that feedback was taken seriously and used to inform improvements across the company.
“It’s not only about listening, it’s about using what you hear to take action—and this must be communicated in a clear and consistent way,” said Katie Phillips, Typeform’s Internal Communication Specialist.
You can also kickstart the initiative with a competition where employees are rewarded for giving feedback. The more the behavior is demonstrated over time, the more likely it is to become a default for your people.
Step 2. Make it easy for others to give feedback
The amount of feedback that is distributed in your organization will correlate with how easy it is to give feedback. Praise is an easy starting point for feedback, but it’s only helpful if it includes actionable insights.
According to Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis, co-founders of Amazing If, continuous feedback is “significantly more useful when the person delivering it includes more detail to support the recipient’s development.”
That’s why it’s so important for your company’s management team to make it easy for their direct reports and peers to give that level of detailed feedback.
Tupper and Ellis suggest reframing questions about feedback for improvement in a way that reduces employees’ fears about sharing their thoughts. For example, a manager can ask, “How can I support you to do your best work?”
They also recommended holding frequent meetings specifically designed for giving and receiving feedback.
“These meetings give individuals the opportunity — and the permission — to practice feedback and share their perspective in a way that feels safe, with the emphasis on a project or idea rather than a person,” Tupper and Ellis wrote.
As a Performance Enablement and Continuous Feedback software, Mesh.ai provides an AI coaching co-pilot called Maven to teach employees what great looks like when it comes to giving feedback.
It analyzes the feedback that’s written, makes suggestions on how to improve it, and even offers to rewrite it for them. Over time your people will build the feedback muscle and be able to give detailed, action oriented feedback on their own.
Step 3. Have managers ask for feedback often
Feedback goes both ways and a good leader will want to receive feedback early and often from their team.
Author, speaker, and business leadership expert Simon Sinek advised scheduling a meeting for employees to share feedback on how managers can do a better job. The leader can ask relevant follow-up and clarifying questions to better understand their employees’ point of view.
What this does, said Sinek, is set the stage for managers to ask employees how they can improve in their own jobs to reach a common goal.
“A leader who recognizes and rewards feedback is going to encourage more feedback,” said Sinek in this brief.
As long as that feedback is delivered respectfully—and received in the same manner—it can be used to create a healthy and honest culture of feedback within the workplace, Sinek noted.
If you’re worried that your managers won’t follow through on asking for feedback, try to create a ritual around the practice where one 1:1 every month is dedicated to upward feedback. You can provide them with a script and agenda to follow and have employees complete a survey afterward about how that 1:1 went.
Step 4. Use a Performance Enablement Software to Keep the Momentum Going
While building a culture of continuous feedback starts with people, maintaining it requires a system or tool to support and reinforce the practice.
A comprehensive performance enablement software like Mesh includes continuous feedback features that make it easy to give and receive feedback.
Our solution allows everyone in your organization to share frequent, in-the-moment feedback, making the process feel natural and integrated into daily work.
We also don’t leave continuous feedback to chance. Employees and managers alike will receive ‘Nudges’ to their Mesh dashboard and to Slack or Microsoft Teams. These nudges prompt them to provide feedback, schedule 1:1s, and check in on goal progress.
And when an employee craves feedback, they can request it from anyone in the organization and use it to inform development goals.
While these are examples from our solution, any good performance enablement software should offer similar capabilities:
- In-the-moment feedback functionality integrated with daily work tools.
- Automated reminders or "nudges" to prompt regular feedback and check-ins.
- The ability for employees to request feedback from anyone in the organization.
- Goal-setting and tracking features that align individual objectives with company goals.
- Scheduling tools for 1:1s and 360 reviews, with templates to guide meaningful discussions.
Each helps your organization maintain a steady flow of feedback, leading to greater employee engagement, improved performance, and a stronger workplace culture.
→ Learn more about Mesh.ai’s continuous feedback software. ←
Common pitfalls with continuous feedback programs and how to avoid them
Implementing a continuous feedback system has its benefits, but it also comes with a fair few challenges.
We’ve listed a few of them below along with some actionable solutions.
Pushback from employees and managers
Your people may see the new system as unnecessary or like too much work.
Solution: Get employees and managers on board by clearly communicating the benefits of continuous feedback, such as improved performance and a more cohesive and beneficial company culture. You could have an all-hands where you introduce the system, field questions, and assuage concerns. Explain to them how it actually will make performance reviews easier because they’ll have data to refer back to.
A Betterworks survey found that companies using continuous performance practices report outperforming their competition at a 24% higher rate than those that don’t.
Lack of effective communication
Continuous feedback initiatives can fizzle out after the initial launch without clear, consistent, and continuous communication.
Solution: To avoid this outcome, reinforce the program through regular updates, meetings, and reminders. Make sure every action you and your managers take aligns with your vision to maintain momentum and enthusiasm through continuous feedback.
Unrealistic expectations
Implementing a continuous feedback system requires time and patience (you can’t accomplish big organizational changes overnight).
Solution: Set short- and mid-term objectives that are achievable and align with long-term goals. Revisit these goals and adjust them as needed to keep your initiative — and employees — on track.
Continuous feedback - FAQs
Implementing a continuous feedback system will likely raise several questions. Here are some of the most common questions and how to respond.
1. What is an example of continuous feedback?
Continuous feedback can be as simple as a manager providing immediate praise for a well-done presentation or offering constructive advice after observing a challenging customer interaction.
For example, a manager might reach out to an employee right after a meeting and say, "Great job on handling that client question today. Your thorough explanation really helped clear up their concerns."
This is much more impactful for the employee to hear in the moment, rather than weeks or months later at their annual performance review, because it reinforces positive behavior.
Writing great feedback doesn’t come easily to everyone so you may be interested in our Mesh Maven feature that helps employees analyze and rewrite the feedback they’re about to give:
2. How do you provide continuous feedback?
Continuous feedback should be specific, timely, and actionable. Make it a habit to give feedback shortly after observing behavior that requires praise or correction.
Use a mix of informal conversations, regular check-ins, and digital tools integrated into daily workflows, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. Your feedback should be balanced and offer both praise and constructive advice for growth and improvement.
3. Why is continuous feedback beneficial?
Continuous feedback helps employees make immediate adjustments that lead to better performance and higher engagement. Regular interactions strengthen relationships between managers and employees while creating a culture of continuous improvement.
4. Should continuous feedback be two-way?
Absolutely! Two-way feedback promotes open dialogue that allows employees to share their perspectives with their managers and feel valued.
The two-way communication not only improves employee engagement but also provides managers with insights that can help refine their strategies and improve team dynamics.
By encouraging employees to give feedback to managers, a culture of mutual respect and continuous development can grow.
