Importance of feedback

When we consider performance improvement, we must consider two types of improvements -- improvement through conscious effort and improvement through unconscious development. The latter is more powerful and long lasting. But we do not have much control over that, except to discover and cooperate with the processes of the psyche.

We must focus our attention on the area where we have control -- improvement through conscious effort. This happens through practice. There are no shortcuts here.

If we engage in the wrong kind of practice, we get the wrong results. So hard work alone is not enough. We need to start with clarity of the desired outcome, set standards (or benchmarks or expectations), continuously measure and compare our performance against the standard and take corrective actions.

There is no performance improvement without performance measurement. There cannot be objective performance measurement without clear definition of performance criteria. There cannot be clear definition of performance criteria without clarity of results required. So we need to start with the results required and work to get the desired results through performance, all the time measuring and correcting our performance.

The system of human performance improvement at the conscious level is very much like a feedback control system. The principle of performance improvement through feedback control works in all situations where there is a conscious effort to improve performance -- students, teachers, athletes, sportspersons, musicians, singers, artists, writers, lawyers, managers, leaders, doctors, pastors, parents ....

Most of the time, poor results do not indicate a lack of efforts or commitment, but the absence of proper measurement and feedback system. Corrections in this area have a great impact on improving performance. The impact is greater than what can be obtained by all the other efforts at motivating employees or learners. Great performance itself would then become the biggest motivating force.