Whether your team has monthly, quarterly, or annual reviews, performance reviews are one of the most important opportunities for every person on the sales team. From entry-level representatives to national directors, these reviews allow you to ensure efficiency across the entire company.
As teams grow larger, it becomes increasingly challenging for leaders to have a pulse on each team members’ day to day. This separation of the larger picture from daily life is expected, but it hinders a leader’s ability to share specific and relevant feedback when the time comes. While you may have an overview of the team’s broad strokes from your CRM, but you likely lack the insights into daily roadblocks or who needs help.
4 Tips to Leverage Peer Feedback
As a leader, one of your greatest assets to improving your team is your own team members. Nobody knows the nitty-gritty and the inner workings of the job as well as the people performing it, so these people are really best positioned to better than your employees to be the ones giving honest and constructive feedback to the team.
By empowering your team to share constructive feedback with each other, you will be able to more quickly relieve pain points and optimize success moving forward. However, implementing a feedback culture isn’t easy, especially if your team is operating in a way that only prioritizes feedback coming from managers.
We’re here to walk you through G2’s top four tips for creating a peer feedback system from the ground-up. Let’s get started.
1. Understand your team’s relationships with one another
Before starting, you have to understand your team’s dynamics. This means having insights into who are friendly with each other, who works frequently closely together, who doesn’t work closely together but should, who doesn’t get along together, and so on. Knowing the team’s dynamics will ensure the most buy-in and success when setting up the program and your groups.
The peer feedback groups should include people who work the closest together on the same projects and tasks, mentors, and the reviewees’ direct reports (if applicable). For example, if your content marketing team is split between team leads, associates, and specialists, it would be beneficial to have the associates and specialists together. Involving team leads or other more senior members could introduce a power dynamic that’s not beneficial.
2. Train your team on the best ways to give and receive feedback
When your team understands that they’re expected to give and receive feedback often, it’s time to bring in professional communication coaches to help your team to give and receive effective and constructive feedback. Communication coaches will be able to teach the proper ways to share criticism, issues, and opportunities, as well as help them receive negative feedback.
3. Share feedback early and as often as you can
As a leader, you should be sharing feedback on the collective team’s progress, as well as accepting their feedback on how you’re doing. This means that any new hires who begin on your team should feel equally comfortable giving to their manager as they are receiving it from their manager and peers. To ensure you are setting them up for success by sharing your expectations at the beginning of their training and onboarding program.
Leading by example will help you create a constructive environment and culture, and if you’re enthusiastically participating in it, your team will be much more likely to take it seriously and conduct the feedback program well.
4. Follow up each review with recognition and encouragement
So every member of your team has given and received feedback. Now what? As the leader of the team, it’s your job to celebrate those who are overperforming, as well as address the common roadblocks and issues that you uncovered. This step ensures that your team keeps moving forward and has a healthy outlook on their team and their career as a whole.
Try integrating employee engagement software. This can be the easiest way to celebrate your team and celebrate all wins, no matter how small.
Get better by learning from past mistakes
Peer feedback is a great way for your team members to grow and get better at their jobs in a supportive environment. Adding opportunities for continuous feedback can improve team morale, the ability to work together towards a common goal, and ultimately result in a thriving and cohesive sales team.
