The Importance of Feedback in Construction Management
If you have a child in daycare, then you most likely get a daily care report from the provider recapping the day, including mealtime, naptime, and even potty time. You may even have to fill out your own sheet when you drop your child off, indicating when your child ate last and what type of night’s sleep they had. Each care facility has a different report, yet all are similarly designed to ensure the child is best cared for during the day, expressing that some days are easier for them than others. As your child advances to primary school, it may turn to the color of the day, with yellow being a warning and red being the loss of a privilege, a time out, or a parent contact. I remember one of my daughters coming home from school a bit on the wild side quite often despite her excellent daily reports and one day saying to me, “Mommy, I work so hard at being good in school—I just need to let it all out when I get home.”
Although, by the time we grow and advance from middle and high school to adult education and the workforce, we don’t officially have a daily scorecard completed about us. Yet, we do have an unspoken daily review that adds up on our scorecard for stability, advancement, and acceptance of who we are in the workplace. Just like with daycare and graded school, that scorecard is the expectation set by the company for your behavior to justify a place for you on the company roster.
According to a 2024 Exploding Topics, a company that helps businesses find
exploding trends before they take off, the company lists some employee feedback statistics:
- 96% of employees say getting regular feedback is a good thing.
- Employees who receive recognition from management are 69% more likely to do better work.
- 64% of employees say their workplace has an employee feedback program.
- 41% of employees have left their jobs because they felt they weren’t listened to.
- 20% of employees don’t share feedback with employers.
- Only 10% of employees say they’re engaged after receiving negative feedback.
The article elaborates and gives the sources for the above stats. What stood out to me is the last one on the list stated only 10% of employees say they’re engaged after receiving negative feedback (Gallup). This seems like an oxymoron if 96% of employees say getting regular feedback is a good thing. Does this mean if the feedback is not positive, employees don’t want it at all? The article goes on to say, “When feedback causes employees to experience negative feelings, it can have an adverse effect on engagement. Negative feedback can also lead to employees seeking out other opportunities. 80% of employees who receive negative feedback are either actively or passively looking for another job.”
Workplace Feedback for Employee Engagement
Feedback is a daily necessity for growth in the construction management workplace, jobsite, and office. The key to building top-performing companies and teams within those companies depends on regular feedback. Sadly, I would bet to say that, although maybe not as high as 80%, around half the employees in the construction management workforce struggle with separating how it feels to hear perceived negative feedback from their supervisors from the fact that if they worked on the area they received the feedback on, they would not only earn their supervisor’s respect but also rise steadily their careers. Those construction management team members who take offense or think what was mentioned was harsh tend to find themselves, for sure, in the “actively or passively looking for another job” category because skill can be taught, but attitude and aptitude cannot. The inability to receive and process both positive and negative feedback in a balanced manner is both attitude and aptitude, better known as emotional intelligence.
Three Areas in Construction Management Where You May Receive What Can Be Perceived As Negative Feedback:
1. Constructability Feedback in Construction Projects
The complexities of today’s projects compared to those you may have participated in earlier in your career are evident. If someone on your team is giving you feedback to “better study the plans,” then listen up without offense. They are not questioning your capabilities but your malleability to that project and specifications. You may not know what you don’t know, and I assure you, they are only bringing it up because you either disregarded something or did not communicate effectively that you see it too.
2. Accountability Feedback for Role Alignment
Accountability equates to your responsibility. When your supervisor gives you what you perceive as negative feedback in regard to doing your job responsibilities, then thank them because they are sharing misalignment in expectations for the role you are in and the tasks associated with that role. Recently, we had a candidate who received feedback that their reporting was weak. It was not because they could not enhance their work; it was because, at the previous employer, they were told to dial back on the level of reporting. Once expectation was clearly outlined, it became a non-issue and also a confirmation that he was at the level of the company he desired to work for.
3. Reliability Feedback for Consistent Performance
Feedback when it comes to reliability is all about being consistent and trustworthy day after day. If you are receiving perceived negative feedback when it comes to reliability, then your level of presence is not present to your supervisor; perceived, not necessarily reality. It means they (or someone else) feel they are covering the job you are expected to do, or they are somehow feeling concerned that they may have to in the future. The ability to evenly address a reliability concern is essential. Communicating when things might look different, especially your arrival, departure, and response times, is critical to others knowing they can count on you.
Are you one of the 96% who want regular feedback? Be careful what you wish for if you are one of the 50%+ who only wants it to feel good. The other 50% is out there, and they want feedback to know where they stand and how they can improve so they can have choices of companies and jobs.
To the Need for Feedback,
Suzanne Breistol
