By now, almost everyone knows that feedback is essential in every aspect of life: in our work, in our personal relationships, in our relationship as consumers with other brands, in the academic world... However, if for many leaders and employees the idea of a feedback meeting is still associated with stress and even anxiety, the main reason is that feedback is being given incorrectly.
Why does this happen? Well, because we talk a lot about feedback, but little about how to give it effectively. And it's that even negative feedback, if given correctly, is constructive and fundamental in a healthy organizational culture. It's not the same to tell someone they are not meeting their objectives as it is to help them with how to achieve them through useful feedback.
Feedback is an incredibly powerful tool for professional growth. If given appropriately, it will have the capacity to help individuals in the organization grow, improve trust, and strengthen communication. But, precisely, for this to happen, it must be given correctly and strategically. And since we like feedback more than Rue Bennett likes teen drama, here are a few practical tips on how to give feedback so well that your team will always associate it with something positive and valuable for their development:
-
Feedback should be descriptive, not critical:
Making critical comments that have more to do with reproach than with being constructive undermines motivation so much that it can destroy performance. Telling someone they need to improve, but not giving details about what they need to improve or how to do it, is not effective at all. Effective feedback is descriptive and is always accompanied by specific ways to improve. Describing in detail helps identify the areas in which they should improve -and reinforce, in the case of strengths- and to have a better understanding of what they need to do. Of course, it improves motivation and even commitment. So tell them exactly what needs to improve, getting to the root of the problem, so that they can stick to the facts.
Some ideas:
? You were great!
? I really liked the project you presented this Tuesday. You could highlight [specific element] in future presentations.
? This is wrong, it doesn't make sense.
? Thank you for the report you drafted. However, there are some parts that are not very clear, do you think you could rewrite them so that they are as good as the others? Perhaps focusing on [specific aspect].
-
Timely feedback: give it at the right moment:
If, for example, you have the reports from an evaluation and you wait two months to give feedback, it is likely that the moment has already passed. The closer you give the feedback to the events, the better. No one will have forgotten what you are talking about. It is vital for any evaluation process to be agile in developing action plans leveraging their results, as it will help convey to the team that the organization's initiative has not been a mere formality. Collaborators will engage in feedback processes only if they perceive that the organization is truly committed to feedback and its application.
-
Focus on strengths for balanced feedback:
When giving feedback, ideally, most of the time it should be positive. The vast majority of the time. If feedback always focuses on what someone does wrong, don't expect anything but frustration and demotivation from that person. The more positive feedback and recognition you give, the better constructive or negative feedback will be received.
-
Feedback aligned with organizational objectives:
Feedback is not just about your personal opinion. Effective feedback is given from the perspective of what the organization values, its global objectives, its principles and goals.
Some ideas:
? I love your sense of humor.
? We love how your sense of humor fits so well with our organizational culture, with the atmosphere we like to have, contributing to a positive work environment.
-
Build a culture of trust for open feedback:
And not just for giving feedback, but for everything! Trust is essential for the team to be sure that your intentions are good. And how can you build that trust? Among other things, when you make a mistake, acknowledge it openly. Normalizing mistakes fosters professional development and prepares the environment for feedback to be understood as something good and frequent.
-
Global vision: connect performance with organizational success:
There is no better way to make collaborators understand their strengths and areas for improvement than to give visibility to the impact of their performance on the success of their colleagues and the organization in general. This is also a very effective way to generate engagement in our collaborators, making them participants in our growth.
-
Promote and accept two-way feedback:
It's not just a matter of you accepting it, you must encourage every employee to give you their feedback. And, just as you expect when you give feedback to others, make sure you also take action on it, that is, improve. Being open only to top-down feedback closes the door to a lot of valuable information and a healthy and transparent workplace.
-
Feedback as a continuous and recurring process:
Of course, not everything requires feedback, but it is important to make positive feedback a regular process. Do you understand now why the concept of Continuous Performance Evaluation is so fashionable?
This will make feedback always understood as something good for everyone, and goodbye to false myths and fears about feedback!
Conclusion: Implementing a culture of effective feedback
Of course, if you give negative feedback, always do it about something that can be improved concretely. Telling someone they are too tall is not going to help. And, although it seems obvious, try to structure the feedback processes in your company so that they do not depend only on the people who want to give it, but you must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to receive it once or several times a year. Performance Evaluations help you base it on solid data. Without forgetting to evaluate the Work environment to understand the context and circumstances in which people are working and that directly influence performance.
At HRider, we firmly believe in the importance of establishing performance evaluation processes in organizations and that these are managed effectively. Organizations can improve their competitiveness by incorporating a system for measuring the performance of the collaborators that comprise them. For employees, it is the best method to help them in their professional development and highlight their talent and contribution.
If you want to know more about effective feedback and how to implement it in your company, don't miss this selection of articles on our blog: