While everyone agrees that giving positive feedback - praise - is not difficult at all, few feel the same way about giving constructive feedback. In fact, calling “constructive feedback” by its other name - “criticism” - evokes an underlying negative connotation which instantly makes both feedback givers and receivers uneasy about the task at hand.
Athletes get daily feedback and, not surprisingly, they typically show steady improvement from one year to another. In business, however, consistent and regular feedback seems to be the exception to the rule, while at the same time steady improvement is still expected.
Guidelines for Improving Feedback-giving Skills
When
- Feedback should be given frequently and timely. Waiting for months before giving feedback sends the message that whatever the employee is doing is not important and has no consequences.
- Waiting until the mid-year or year-end review is definitely not advisable. Feedback given during the mid-year and year-end reviews should not come as a total surprise, especially if the employee has been consistently receiving feedback throughout the year.
- Managers should never give feedback when they are upset or angry. It is better to think things over for a day or two, gather one's thoughts, review what happened, and then provide feedback in a calm and objective manner.
Where
- Managers should always give developmental feedback in a private setting. Praise publicly, but criticize privately!
How
- Feedback should be specific, relevant and non- generic. Subjective opinions will not have the same, if any, impact.
- Feedback should be accompanied by examples that refer to situations, clients, projects the employee worked on.
- Managers must take ownership for their opinions and feedback. They should never say, “I disagree with this, but I have been told you need to improve your time management.”
- Managers need to ensure the feedback has been understood clearly. They should check for any misunderstandings and provide more clarification or examples as needed.
- Putting themselves in the employee’s shoes is also helpful – how would they like to receive feedback? The goal of developmental feedback is to help the employee improve their skills, not to embarrass or demotivate them.
- Managers should also mention how a certain behavior has had a positive or negative impact on the rest of the team, the client(s), or them personally. They should explain why and what behaviours they would like to see going forward.
- Focusing on the behavior, not the person is highly recommended. “Due to the fact that you missed this critical deadline in Project X and made several significant errors, the client expressed disappointment and advised us they would be working with another firm going forward”. This focuses on the behavior at hand, and avoids comments that could be interpreted as subjective, such as, “Due to your sloppiness, we lost the client”.
- Feed-forward should also be included - an outline of the behaviours the manager would like to see going forward. Focusing on the past makes people defensive, while focusing on the future makes people receptive.
- Last but not least, it is important to listen to the employee’s feedback as well, and ask what the manager can do to help them improve. Feedback-giving should be a two-way communication avenue.
Although inherently different, both positive and constructive feedback should share one essential attribute: the generosity of spirit to recognize people for who they are and what they are capable of achieving, even if they may need help along the way.
