4 types of Social Assessment feedback

Focuses on personal examples and appreciation for demonstration of skills–“here’s something that worked for me” or “I like how you did X.”
May be difficult to solicit meaningful critique.
Feedback structure and a culture of trust are key to improving the quality of peer critique.

Useful for focusing on specific issues and improvements to increase quality of employee performance.
Experts can be experienced peers or senior leaders, or even new employees who bring a fresh skill set to the organization.
Feedback carries significant weight. Experts are respected.
May be difficult to get to specific “how to” improvements. Make sure feedback includes not only a critique, but also suggestions for improvement.

Feedback on feedback.
Used to help those who are responsible for providing feedback to improve their feedback-giving skills.
Particularly important for leadership development.

Required as part of the manager/employee relationship.
Typically ties directly to performance.
Often provided in the context of an evaluation or assessment. As a result, it carries more weight than other types of feedback.
Managers may or may not be experts in the areas for which they provide feedback to employees. Organizations should be clear and explicit about when manager feedback is being used for evaluation, or just shared in the interest of performance improvement.
For instance, when a manager isn’t an expert in a particular skill area, it may be beneficial to find an expert to provide the feedback instead.

Learn more about leveraging the four types of Social Assessment feedback.