Managers often use performance reviews to mold and shape employee behaviors and results. They trust that formally telling high performers what they’re doing wrong one to two times a year will lead to them immediately doing it right. There’s an operating assumption that formal feedback provides employees with enough information to improve performance moving forward. Our executive coaching experience confirms that this assumption is misguided, given what’s truly needed for behavior change in humans.

Tanya, a cofounder of a health-tech startup, found this to be true when she tried to get her head of engineering to address some recurring problems. In Tanya’s annual performance review with the engineer, Henry, she documented missed deadlines and lack of urgency. She  expressed concern, and outlined what he had to do.

A month later, exasperated, Tanya shared with her executive coach: “I appreciate he’s a brilliant engineer who’s the brains behind our first successful product, but why isn’t he more tuned into our timelines and their importance? I told him during his review his behavior is holding us back! Why hasn’t he changed already?”

Here are three practices we’ve found that actually grow people you’re willing to invest in, so that you, their manager, can finally see improved results:

Make feedback future-focused and specific

Research suggests that performance-review feedback is not the most effective tool for changing employee behavior. People are more motivated to change when they know what to do differently moving forward, as opposed to revisiting past performance. Therefore, managers should only use employees’ past missteps as a stepping-off point for what they can do differently. Gallup’s research highlights that “meaningful feedback,” which is future-oriented as well as focused (i.e., not the general “you need more executive presence” feedback) also results in increased engagement scores by almost a 4x improvement.

With this in mind, Tanya picked two of the most important behaviors she wanted Henry to focus on: timely communication with partners and better project management of his team to meet the different deadlines at each project stage. Tanya then sat down with Henry, named what she wanted them to track together, and with Henry, crafted a schedule of when and how they would track progress on each behavior. This supportive intervention enabled Tanya to shift her emotional state from frustrated to supportive and gave Henry the real-time guidance he needed to take ownership of his goals.

Connect Feedback to Values and Impact

Once you’ve provided future focused feedback to your direct reports, ensure you are tapping into your employee’s motivation to change, such as understanding what your employee values.

In our coaching session Tanya explained what most confused her about Henry’s performance. “He’s the most creative thinker I know; but he’s hurting his reputation by being so casual with commitments,” Tanya shared.

“How much does he care about his brand?” I asked.

“Well, I assume he does, doesn’t everyone?” Tanya countered.

Across industries, we see executives confused when their people just don’t care about changing “unproductive” behavior. Often though, “not caring” is happening because direct reports a) aren’t aware of the impact of their behavior on others; and b) that impact isn’t directly connected with what the person most values. 

Instead of assuming what Henry cared about, Tanya worked to find it out. Once Tanya learned Henry wasn’t motivated to preserve his reputation, but cared about the quality of his relationships, she changed how she communicated her feedback: “Henry, when you submitted the mobile app updates three days past the deadline, it caused marketing to scramble. I know you care about being a strong partner and I worry your delay eroded the trust you’ve worked hard to build. What are you noticing?”

When Tanya linked her feedback directly to Henry’s impact on his peers, something he values, Henry discovered new motivation to change and sustain this change.

Keep Feedback Frequent and Tending Positive

Many managers resist giving feedback until they can document an established pattern—allowing them to come from a strong position. This delay can lead to bad habits becoming entrenched before being addressed. While frequent feedback can feel risky for many managers, Amabile and Kramer’s data reveals that the most important predictor of a good workday is making progress. Getting “just-in-time” feedback helps people identify how they can improve instead of repeating the same thing everyday without knowing if it’s working.

When this timely feedback is balanced, focusing on successes and areas to upgrade, it encourages employee productivity in two ways. First, acknowledging when employees are on the right path increases their motivation to keep working hard. Second, helping employees recognize their progress and set new future goals activates a “growth mindset,” a skill Carol Dweck associated with higher-achieving employees. This research supports the effectiveness of frequent feedback to increase employee engagement, motivation, and results—huge wins for any manager.

Once Tanya created the plan with Henry that outlined performance expectations, she focused on expressing appreciation when Henry showed her his plan for an upcoming cross-functional initiative. Privately, she offered the occasional pointed feedback when Henry’s peers hadn’t heard from him about their inquiries. This clear, consistent communication gave Henry the data and motivation he needed to elevate his performance.

Performance reviews continue to be helpful and motivate new behaviors, however managers who rely on them as their sole performance management instrument need to expand their toolkit. Change takes time; more frequent and collaborative forms of feedback help team members meet their potential.