Are you nervous about giving feedback? Ever feel your employee isn’t hearing your feedback? Learn how to be a Rockstar at giving feedback by reviewing three different areas including Content, Tone, and Best Practices.
Content:
- Any feedback should be clearly defined.
General feedback like, “You were terrific, Muhammad,” may make the person feel good, but does it really improve his or her competence? Try honing in on exactly what that person did well in. Give specific desired behaviors and actions they should try to repeat.
- You should outline clear processes to stick to.
When providing feedback, be certain to provide processes and procedures that can assist someone toward your desired outcome. Go beyond just telling the recipient they're off course. Help them get back on it!
Tone:
- Be honest and without emotional triggers.
Before you can effectively give feedback, you must first make sure your emotions are under control. Mixing in feelings of frustration, urgency, disappointment, etc. will trigger emotional responses in the recipient. In fact, try to detach yourself from the person and focus on the specific behanvior you wish to change. This will make it easier on you to give feedback and prevent them from becoming defensive or feeling attacked.
- Think of what you know about the recipient and how they will receive your feedback.
Leverage what you know about the recipient in order to anticipate how they will react to what you are prepared to say. Perform this exercise as a way of potentially changing how things are worded, taking the recipient’s feelings and way of thinking into account.
- Be sure to keep the conversation about performance and nothing personal.
Focus your conversation on performance and avoid references to someone’s personality or anything personal at all. Keep a continued focus on being helpful and committed to seeing the recipient succeed.
- Your feedback should also be well intentioned.
Feedback is best received when someone trusts that you are fair and have the best interest at heart. As a giver of feedback, it’s your job to convey this in your message as well as give feedback. If at any point there’s confusion or they feel you are not well-intentioned in your feedback, the burden of clarity in communication falls on you as the communicator, not the listener.
Best Practices:
- Immediate Feedback is the best feedback!
Feedback should be as close to the time of an occurrence as possible, when it’s fresh on the mind and easy to recall. If you do not have consistent feedback with regards to the issue at hand, be certain to take ownership for any lack or gaps in communication.
- Refrain from mentions of the past.
Feedback should always focus on the path forward. Avoid rehashing errors that were made and things that were overlooked. Use the past as an unspoken guidance to move someone to an improved performance without dwelling on previous missteps. Focus on processes and development measures that will result in improved outcomes that both you and the recipient can take pride in.
- Remember to positively reinforce.
Never miss an opportunity to praise and promote exemplary behavior. Praise the things you would like to see more of. Publicly praise the things you would like to see more of for future behavior.
- Begin and end negative feedback with praise.
Highlight something positive related to the negative feedback that you plan to deliver. Speak to why it is positive and praise for it before you deliver negative feedback. After the delivery of negative feedback underscore another positive or reiterate the opening positive feedback before ending the discussion.