Who Really Sees the Work?
Using Continuous Feedback in Complex Public Sector Teams

The answer is not to ask managers to see everything. It is to make useful observations portable: captured by someone who witnessed the work, retained when the employee moves and available when performance and development are discussed. Several such accounts can reveal a pattern that no single reporting relationship could provide and help create a more effective continuous feedback culture.

Start by mapping where the employee has actually worked during the review period and who directly observed each part of their contribution. In a police service, that might include shift supervisors, project leads, field training officers, mentors and experienced colleagues who saw the employee work during temporary assignments or acting appointments.

For example, an officer might spend part of the year on a temporary assignment where a different supervisor sees them coordinate colleagues during a demanding incident. A timely account of what the officer did, the impact and the judgement demonstrated would give the formal manager evidence that could otherwise be absent from the year-end review.

Managers should therefore begin by asking where the employee has actually worked during the review period and who has directly observed different aspects of their contribution.

However, broadening the sources of feedback should not mean collecting general opinions from as many people as possible. The purpose is to gather relevant firsthand evidence from people who directly observed a particular piece of work, behaviour or capability.

A useful observation should answer clear questions:

• What happened?

• In what context?

• What was the impact?

• Which behaviour or capability did it demonstrate?

• What should the employee continue, strenthen or do differently?

Describing someone as “a strong team player” is a general impression. Explaining how they coordinated colleagues during a difficult situation, what they did and what difference it made gives the manager something concrete to assess and discuss.

Waiting until the end of the year encourages people to reconstruct events from memory, recent incidents may receive disproportionate weight, while important work completed several months earlier can be forgotten. This becomes a greater risk when employees have changed assignments, teams or supervisors during the review period.

Timely feedback gives both the manager and employee a clearer account of what happened, while creating an opportunity to recognise a contribution, address a concern or act on a development need while the context is still understood.

Continuous feedback should not become relentless commentary on every task. Instead, evidence should be recorded when meaningful work, behaviour or development is observed.

A simple structure can help:

• What happened

• Why it mattered

• What it demonstrated 

• What should happen next.

This keeps feedback connected to the work and prevents it from becoming a stream of disconnected comments.

More feedback does not automatically produce a fairer assessment because not every observation is equally relevant or reliable. The formal manager therefore has an important role in testing and interpreting the evidence. They should consider whether the contributor had relevant firsthand knowledge, whether the observation is specific, how it relates to role expectations and whether similar themes appear across different situations.

The manager should bring the different perspectives together, identify patterns and challenge unsupported or inconsistent comments.

The value of continuous feedback extends beyond producing a more complete annual review. Evidence gathered across different assignments can reveal strengths and readiness that the formal manager may never have seen directly.

For instance, an employee may demonstrate leadership while covering an acting role, show sound judgement during a difficult incident or perform effectively in a demanding setting.

A police service we work with supports this by assessing the competencies, knowledge, skills and behaviours required for operational policing throughout the year. Supervisors and colleagues can formally record positive examples of professional judgement, teamwork, leadership or service in challenging circumstances, turning recognition into evidence that can inform both development and promotion conversations.

Used in this way, continuous feedback can help answer:

• What has the employee consistently demonstrated?

• Which strengths are becoming established?

• What evidence supports readiness for greater responsibility? 

• Where do gaps remain?

• What experience would help close these gaps?

Evidence becomes more useful when expectations are matched to the role and level of responsibility. For example, leadership expectations may increase from constable through senior operational ranks, allowing managers to discuss progression against the competencies required for the next role rather than against a single organisational standard.

Those next steps might include stretch work, acting assignments, mentoring or targeted development, chosen to help the employee strengthen a gap or demonstrate readiness in a new context.

Continuous feedback is not simply an annual review carried out more often. In complex teams, it captures evidence from the people who actually see the work. The formal manager remains accountable for weighing that evidence, identifying recurring patterns and turning them into fair decisions, meaningful recognition, practical development and clearer career conversations.

When employees work across different supervisors, locations and assignments, important evidence can easily be missed.

Pilat helps organisations capture continuous feedback as work happens, giving managers a more complete and reliable picture of performance.

Explore how Pilat supports fairer, evidence-based performance management →