At this point there is no one who does not know that feedback is essential in any 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, for one reason only: the feedback is being given wrong.
Why does this happen? Well, because we talk a lot about feedback, but little about how to give it effectively. And it is that, even the negative feedback, if given correctly, it is constructive and essential in a healthy organizational culture. It is not the same to tell someone that she is not meeting her objectives, than to help her with how to achieve them.
Feedback is an incredibly powerful tool. If given properly, it will have the ability to grow the people in the organization, improve trust and strengthen communication. But, precisely, for this it is necessary to give it correctly. And since we like feedback better than Rue Bennett youth drama, here are a few tips on how to give feedback so well that your team will always associate it with something positive:
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Feedback should be descriptive, not critical:
Making critical comments that are more blameworthy than constructive so depletes motivation that they can destroy performance. Telling someone that they need to improve, but not giving details about what to improve or how to do it, is not effective. Effective feedback is descriptive and is always accompanied by ways to improve. Describing them in detail helps to identify the areas in which they need to 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 him exactly what he needs to improve, getting to the root of the problem, so he can stick to the facts.
Some ideas:
☒ You've been great!
☑ I really liked the project you presented this Tuesday.
☒ This is wrong, it doesn't make sense.
☑ Thank you for the report you have written. However, there are some parts that are not very well understood, do you think you could rewrite them so that they are as good as the others?
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Feedback at the right time:
If, for example, you have evaluation reports and wait two months to give feedback, the time has probably passed. The closer you give feedback to the facts, 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 taking advantage of their results, as it will help convey to the team that the organization's initiative has not been a mere formality. Employees will engage in feedback processes only if they perceive that the organization is truly committed in this regard.
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Focused on strengths:
When you give feedback, ideally, most of the time it should be positive. In the great, great majority. If the feedback always focuses on what someone does wrong, expect nothing more than frustration and demotivation from that person. The more positive feedback you give, the better the negative feedback will be received.
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Organizationally aligned:
The feedback is not about what you think, what you believe or what you want. 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 the culture of our organization, with the atmosphere that we like to have.
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Build a culture of trust:
And not just to give feedback, 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, openly admit it. Normalizing errors fosters professional development and prepares the environment so that feedback is understood as something good and frequent.
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Overview:
There is no better way to make employees 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.
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Accept to receive feedback:
It's not just a matter of accepting it, it's that you should encourage each employee to give you their feedback. And, just as you hope when you give feedback to others, make sure you also take action on it, that is, improve. Being open only to feedback that goes from top to bottom is closing the door to a lot of valuable information and a healthy and transparent workplace.
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Feedback is a recurring process:
Of course, not everything requires feedback, but it is important to make positive feedback a regular process. Do you now understand why the concept of Continuous Assessment is so fashionable?
This will make feedback always look good to everyone, and say goodbye false myths and fears!
Conclusion
Of course, if you give negative feedback, do something about what can be improved. Telling someone that 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 make sure that everyone has the opportunity to receive it once or several times a year. Performance Reviews help you base it on solid data. Without forgetting to evaluate the Work environment to understand the context and circumstances in which you 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 integrate 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 feedback, don't miss this selection of articles on our blog: