Feedback and honest evaluations go a long way for businesses to understand their position in the market and analyze their performance which consecutively helps them grow and evolve into something better. However, handing out feedback forms often generates no or unsatisfactory results as those filling them out do so half-heartedly or, as seen in most cases, ignore them altogether. To clear out this sense of tedium, the idea of ‘Smile Sheets’ was introduced, which was an innovative approach to evaluation, taking into account the satisfaction of those filling it. These sheets are also known by other names such as, ‘Happy Sheets’, ‘Response Forms’, ‘Reaction Forms’, ‘Level 1s’ ( named after the Kirkpatrick Model), and so on.
How Performance-based Smile Sheets Sum Up Against Traditional Evaluation Sheets?
Traditional sheets use smiley faces and numbers as rating scales for assessing the overall satisfaction of the participants and are useful for collecting qualitative feedback, open-ended responses, and knowing overall impressions. Performance-based Smile Sheets, on the other hand, target specific performance outcomes through clear and concise questions, invoking objective and measurable responses from the participants. They aim to achieve a deeper understanding of a program’s effectiveness by collecting more targeted and actionable data. They provide generous insight into fields like the evaluation of a training program, presentation, or workshop, effectiveness of leadership, and team collaboration.
Steps Involved in Crafting a Performance-based Smile Sheet
- Identification of Objectives: The first step to designing a Performance-based Smile Sheet is to determine the objectives that are to be considered for assessment. This might include skills, actions, behaviors, and experience with a particular event, job role, or training program.
- Selecting Appropriate Metrics: While curating a smile sheet, it is important to select measurable performance metrics, that provide rich insights, and are pertinent to the objective in question.
- Forming the Questionnaire: The questionnaire must be crafted keeping in tune with the chosen performance metrics. Clarity and brevity are your friends in this aspect and the questions must be crafted to compel the participants to give clear-cut assessments and specific feedback.
- Choosing Response Formats: There is an array of acceptable response formats to be chosen from, based on the requirement of the metrics: multiple-choice options, open-ended answers, and rating scales. Choose the format that ensures the most impactful response and insight from performers. The key is to ensure that the format chosen is user-friendly and engaging, without putting the participants in a spot or making them confused or frustrated. A logical flow of questions, clear headings, and an aesthetically pleasing layout are pointers to be taken into consideration.
- Balancing Data Types: The evaluation should strike the right balance between quantitative and qualitative data to ensure a comprehensive view of the objective in question.
- Confidentiality: Often participants shy away from putting in their honest opinions out of fear of bias and creating a negative impression, thereby rendering the assessment process futile. Assuring them of confidentiality and attaching an anonymity clause in the smile sheet can encourage participants to be more open and generate honest responses, which can benefit the organization.
- Experimentation: As with any new product or strategy, after creating a smile sheet, pilot-test it on a small group of participants, and depending on how it is received and the result it yields, the next steps can be determined. If it generates the desired results, it can be implemented on a larger group, and if it does not, it means that the sheet ought to be tweaked, edited, and refined.
People often skip filling out evaluation sheets or take them casually because they are not aware of the impact their responses have. It is therefore important to communicate the purpose of the smile sheet and how their responses help enhance performance and bring improvement.
