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

■ Complete the staff nurse orientation program
successfully.
box 6-7
■ Master the basic skills necessary to function as a
Situations in Which to Ask for Feedback
staff nurse on the assigned unit.
• When you do not know how well you are doing ■ Supervise the unlicensed assistive personnel
• When you receive only positive comments
• When you receive only negative comments assigned to his or her patients.
• When you believe that your accomplishments have not Monthly reviews of progress toward these goals help
been recognized
keep the new staff member on track and provide