The Value of Real-Time Feedback Tools

Real-time feedback creates a culture of continuous feedback that helps direct employee efforts, helping them understand where they’re succeeding and where there’s room for improvement.

But in order to consistently provide real-time feedback, it’s critical that your organization has real-time feedback tools that can solicit, distribute, and store feedback effectively. 

Real-time feedback tools should allow feedback to be accessible to managers, requestable by employees, and shared in 1-on-1 meetings. 

In this article, we’re sharing the key benefits and features of real-time feedback tools to help you better understand the value they bring to organizations. 

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What Is Real-Time Feedback? 

Real-time feedback is a modern approach to performance management where managers and colleagues provide frequent, trackable feedback to guide and develop employees and their performance.

When real-time feedback is given, employees are more aware of where their successes and shortcomings lie. With this awareness, they are able to adapt their performance as needed to better meet expectations. 

PerformYard: Manage Real-Time Feedback

PerformYard’s performance management software is the leading real-time feedback software. PerformYard helps organizations manage, track, and maintain any kind of feedback. 

Real-time feedback software differs from traditional feedback software in that it allows employees to request and complete feedback frequently and repeatedly. 

This feedback functions similarly to weekly check-ins or 1-on-1s with one distinct difference: this feedback is trackable. 

During a typical 1-on-1, a manager may convey positive feedback to an employee directly, which can be great for employee morale and direction. 

By using real-time feedback software, the employee still receives this direction, but the feedback is stored on the employee’s profile—allowing managers and HR to pull up the feedback at any point. 

With PerformYard, a manager has flexibility to provide instantaneous feedback through custom templates or quick comments that can be shared among many different stakeholders. 

In turn, employees have the ability to request feedback from anyone in the organization. All of this feedback is stored and easily accessed in PerformYard’s single sign-on platform.

The key benefit that PerformYard brings to real-time feedback is feedback management. 

With PerformYard, employees get feedback fast. Organizations can store, track, and analyze feedback all in one place.

Key Features of Real-Time Feedback with PerformYard

PerformYard’s real-time feedback tools are a great way to fine-tune employee performance, boost morale, and track employee performance over time. 

Here are the top real-time feedback features you’ll get when you adopt PerformYard.

Give Feedback at Any Time, to Anyone

Rather than waiting until review time to share feedback, PerformYard makes it simple to give real-time feedback at any time. 

And because feedback can take all different types of forms, PerformYard allows you to share your feedback with a number of different groups, including:‍

The Entire Company‍

It’s important to recognize employees who go above and beyond expectations. With PerformYard, a colleague or a manager can write a public comment for everybody in your organization to see.

The Subject‍

1-on-1 feedback can be a great way to document wins, works-in-progress, and opportunities for improvement. PerformYard allows any employee to provide private feedback to another employee with ease.

The Subject’s Manager

When an employee has an excellent win, it can be great to share that feedback both with the employee and their manager. 

And in instances where an employee hasn’t performed optimally and the situation needs to be addressed, the feedback should only be shared with an employee’s manager who can then discreetly address it with the employee. 

PerformYard provides a way for employees to share real-time feedback directly with an employee’s manager, or both the manager and subject. This helps keep managers informed about employee performance in a privacy-conscious manner.

Keep Performance Notes 

PerformYard allows you to keep private notes about any employee in your organization (including yourself). These notes are particularly helpful when it comes to completing holistic reviews. 

For example, if a manager and employee are working on a project in March but annual reviews aren’t held until December, the manager can stash away a series of private notes on the employee’s performance to draw from months later. 

These notes can be organized by topics and company-suggested hashtags, making the notes easy to find months after being written.

Send Feedback Requests

A formal feedback request is a great way to promote a culture of growth and feedback. 

Employees in a company may have feedback about another employee, but not think to write it down and submit it to the subject or their manager. 

With PerformYard, employees can request feedback on their performance from anybody in the company. This feedback helps both employees and managers understand how an employee’s contributions are being seen from others in the organization.

Store Feedback in One Place 

The great thing about PerformYard is that all feedback and reviews are stored in one convenient, single sign-on platform. 

Each employee can easily see every review they’ve completed or received, as well as every piece of real-time feedback they’ve requested or received. PerformYard centralizes all of this feedback and makes it easily accessible for employees, managers, and HR.

This means no digging through emails and Google Docs to find random notes and feedback for every review cycle. 

Instead, all pertinent feedback is readily accessible, so managers and HR can cleanly see an employee’s performance over time. This makes completing annual review cycles and compensation decisions simple and informed.

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What is an Example of Real-Time Feedback?

Real-time feedback represents a modern approach to performance management where feedback is provided to employees promptly and continuously. A pertinent example of real-time feedback in action is found in the way PerformYard's software facilitates instant responses to workplace performance.

Example Scenario

Consider a marketing team at a mid-sized company preparing for a product launch. During a brainstorming session, one of the junior marketers, Alex, proposes a creative idea that catches everyone's attention. Using PerformYard’s real-time feedback tool, Alex’s manager can instantly provide positive feedback on his profile, highlighting his creativity and initiative.

The feedback might look something like this:

“Alex demonstrated exceptional creative thinking during our product launch brainstorming session today. His innovative approach has added tremendous value to the project.”

Immediate Recognition

This prompt recognition helps Alex feel valued for his contributions, boosting his morale and encouraging him to continue thinking creatively. Unlike traditional feedback mechanisms that might save such comments for annual reviews, real-time feedback ensures that Alex receives acknowledgment when it most impacts his motivation.

Documented Performance

Not only does Alex receive immediate positive reinforcement, but the feedback is also documented in his PerformYard profile. This makes it accessible for future performance reviews or when considering Alex for promotions and raises. This stored feedback provides a continuous and easily retrievable record of achievements and areas for growth.

Benefits for Managers and HR Professionals

For managers and HR professionals, real-time feedback offers a strategic means to continually guide and develop their team. Managers can monitor performance trends over time and identify areas needing improvement quickly. Because feedback in PerformYard is centralized, managers save time once spent digging through emails or notes when review periods come around.

Furthermore, real-time feedback facilitates transparent communication within the organization. PerformYard’s tools ensure that employees request and share feedback easily, promoting an environment of open communication and clarity. This heightens employee engagement and fosters a culture of continual development and high performance.

The Benefits of Using PerformYard for Real-Time Feedback 

Employees can’t be expected to perform optimally without feedback. 

There’s nothing more frustrating as an employee than to be working for months, thinking that your work has been excellent, only to hear otherwise in a performance review.

Real-time feedback fixes this problem. Through real-time feedback software like PerformYard, employees immediately know what they’re doing well and where they need to improve. 

This real-time feedback gives employees validation, confidence, and direction. They see their wins being called out and understand that good work will be documented and rewarded. These same wins can then be highlighted in annual performance reviews, building compelling cases for compensation. 

Managers can see all of the feedback their direct hires receive, giving them evolving and accurate views of how their employees’ performance impacts the organization. This helps steer how managers develop their employees, along with helping managers create more accurate annual reviews.

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Great Resources for Real-Time Feedback 

Interested in learning more about real-time feedback? Here are some excellent resources we recommend to start your search.

How To Create a Feedback Culture

What Is Continuous Feedback? Real-World Examples from Adobe & Typeform

A Short Guide to Giving Feedback‍