Using Feedback in Organizational Consulting

This book provides consulting psychologists, managers, and human resources personnel with easy-to-use, evidence-based strategies for providing effective feedback to improve communication and performance in the workplace.

Feedback is an essential part of communication, coaching, management, and human resource practices. Yet the essential elements that make feedback more effective often fail to go beyond the pages of academic journal articles and into the workplace where they could greatly improve communication and performance. This book is an easy-to-use resource that applies classic and current research findings to create actionable, evidence-based tactics that consulting psychologists, consultants, managers, and HR personnel can use to improve feedback exchanges in any work environment.

The authors present a simple and straightforward model of the feedback process that includes four critical elements that can make or break a feedback exchange:

• the actions and behaviors of the feedback provider,
• the content of the message,
• the beliefs and perceptions of the feedback recipient, and
• the context in which feedback is provided.

Each chapter includes a case example that highlights key takeaways from the research and illustrates how consultants can apply these concepts and strategies in real scenarios.

Jane Brodie Gregory, PhD, is a senior consultant with PDRI, a CEB company in Arlington, Virginia. The focus of her work and research is on leadership development, motivation, and performance management, with a particular emphasis on coaching, feedback, and goals. Dr. Gregory's research has appeared in a number of publications, including Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, and the Journal of Organizational Behavior. She completed her doctorate in industrial–organizational psychology at the University of Akron.

Paul E. Levy, PhD, is a professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Akron. After receiving his doctorate in industrial–organizational psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1989, he joined the University of Akron as a faculty member. There, he chaired the nationally ranked industrial–organizational psychology program for 10 years. He is the author of one of the leading industrial–organizational textbooks in the field and more than 50 refereed publications, many of which have appeared in top journals in the discipline, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Personnel Psychology, and has been an associate editor of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes since 2010. Dr. Levy has more than 25 years of consulting and grant-related experience; his clients or sponsors have included the federal government, large private organizations, and local not-for-profit companies.