Does corrective feedback actually improve work in Berne?
Within SHR — Swiss Human Resources’ “Leadership d'excellence” programme, feedback deserves to be approached as more than a communication technique. The precise management question is this: once a discrepancy has been identified, how can feedback help people correct their work without shifting their attention towards defending themselves?
What the literature establishes
Avraham N. Kluger and Angelo DeNisi (1996, Psychological Bulletin) show in a meta-analysis that feedback interventions improve performance on average, but can also make it worse. Their theory proposes that the effect depends partly on where feedback directs attention: towards the task, motivational processes or the self. An additional comment is therefore not necessarily information that helps someone act.
The mechanism: making the discrepancy actionable
Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham (2002, American Psychologist) synthesise research showing the value of specific, challenging goals under certain conditions, including commitment and ability. Within this framework, feedback helps people assess progress towards a goal rather than merely label a result. Feedback becomes more actionable when it connects an observable discrepancy with a known criterion and a possible adjustment.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that personal judgements simply need to be replaced with precise instructions. That rule remains insufficient if the goal is poorly understood, resources are lacking or the task first requires learning. Describing exactly what is wrong does not automatically provide the resources needed to do things differently. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot promise
A meta-analysis of diverse interventions does not validate a universal script for corrective feedback conversations. Nor does this research establish that a particular training programme will improve future performance. Finally, a decline in reported errors may reflect less reporting rather than better work.
A practical check in Berne
In Berne, a proposed exercise for “Leadership d'excellence” would involve selecting a recurring discrepancy within a team: incomplete files in the federal administration, incomplete handovers in public health, insufficiently documented tickets in telecoms or non-conformities in precision manufacturing. Across two comparable periods, before and after introducing feedback structured around the observable discrepancy, the expected criterion and the agreed adjustment, the team would calculate the proportion of files, handovers, tickets or components exhibiting that discrepancy again. Verification would rely on a sample checked against consistent criteria, rather than spontaneous reports alone, without recording sensitive personal data in training materials. A favourable change would provide local evidence for discussion, not causal proof of the programme’s effectiveness. To go further: explore the Executive Leadership training in Bern in the canton of Bern, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
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