The Art Of Giving Feedback

We’ve all been in positions where we have had to receive feedback for work that we have done, be it in the formal setting of the workplace or even through the comments sections of sites like Steem. Many of us have also been placed in the rather unenviable position of having to provide feedback, which is a task that seems like it should be easier than it actually is. In fact, many who have to provide feedback find that they struggle to do so in the manner that is required to ensure the feedback is constructive, without veering too far into negativity that the person they are speaking to becomes offended.

This means that there is a certain art of feedback that revolves around what you say and, crucially, the way that you say it. It is certainly essential, with as many as 75% of people stating that receiving regular feedback is important to them, with some stats suggesting that people are around two times more likely to become disengaged at work if they feel as though management is ignoring them. So how do you go about doing it right?

Should I Go Positive Or Negative?

The first question that is likely to arise when you are tasked with providing feedback is whether you should go in with a positive slant or a negative one. Unfortunately, there is no real black and white answer to this as the truth is that you are going to have to incorporate both.

This has led to the rise of a technique called the “compliment sandwich,” whereby positive feedback is provided, followed by something negative, and then wrapped up with something positive again. It is a technique that we have all been subjected to, but even that may be a little too cut and dry. In fact, some believe that it is entirely ineffective as a means of providing feedback.

In reality, it is usually best to consider the individual who is receiving the feedback and what their needs are. As a general rule, those who are new to a company or role need to be provided with more positive feedback than negative, as it is important to keep morale high and encourage that person to develop. This isn’t to say that the negative aspects must be avoided, but they should certainly be carefully phrased. Instead of telling somebody that “You’re doing….wrong,” you could say something along the lines of “Have you considered this approach?”, or “What if we tried…” This encourages further thinking on the part of the receiver, without degrading them via flat statements of negativity, and around 92% of people believe that negative feedback delivered appropriately can be very helpful.

Conversely, those who have achieved a high level of expertise will usually be much more receptive to the negative side of things. After all, if you are proficient in a task, you don’t need to be told so again and again. Instead, information about what you can do to build your skills and where you may be going wrong is much more valued, so you can consider being a little more straightforward in your feedback, though not to the point where you are actively insulting the person.

So when it comes to the choice of whether to provide positive or negative feedback, you really need to take the individual into account. What is important is that the negative is not ignored entirely, as you will be missing the point of giving good feedback.

Creating A Comfortable Environment

So now that you have decided on the gist of what you need to say and how you want to deliver it, you need to consider the environment that you are going to place the recipient in when providing feedback. According to Kevin Ochsner, who is a neuroscientist at Columbia University, those who receive feedback apply it about 30% of the time and much of this has to do with how comfortable they feel when receiving the comments.

Naturally, anything that feels confrontational is likely to raise the ire of the person receiving feedback, as is the feeling that they are being ganged up on by multiple people. While this doesn’t mean that you should avoid group feedback sessions entirely, it does mean that you need to be careful with them. If they devolve into everybody pointing fingers at a single person in the group, you are much more likely to see that person saw “screw it” and not bother actually listening to what is being said.

Perhaps the best tack to take is to make the session as conversational as possible. When providing feedback, make sure that you give the individual the chance to respond and engage with what you have said. Allow for questions to be asked and be honest in your answers. Creating a safe environment is of the utmost importance, so be aware of where you say things, as well as what you actually say.

Try to Offer Advice

Employees want feedback. It helps them to develop as professionals and offers them the opportunity to find out what they need to do to advance to the next level of their careers. This is borne out by the stats again, with 65% of people claiming that they want more feedback than they are currently receiving.

That point about advancing professionally is vitally important to consider when offering feedback. Talking for talking’s sake is going to do no favours for anybody and simply highlighting a person’s flaws, or even their positives, makes the session too dry and doesn’t result in anything actionable that can be taken forward.

As such, for every point that you want to touch upon when providing feedback you need to ensure that you have some meat behind it that employees can actually get their teeth into with the aim of making improvements. If you have something negative to say, make sure that you discuss the real-world implications of what the issue can cause and, more importantly, what can be done to fix the issue.

Perhaps more difficult is offering advice when you are praising somebody. After all, if somebody is receiving good feedback that means they must be doing something right. However, again you need to consider development. Just because something is good, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be made better. Furthermore, if you feel positive about a person’s performance you can generally feel safe about asking for more. This sort of advice could even be conversational in nature, resulting in the two of you spit balling ideas to see what improvements could be made.

The final thing to consider here is that you need to be specific in the sort of advice that you give. Vagaries like “you should be more assertive in meetings” do little to help anybody. Instead, break down the issue that you see and offer specific advice on how a person could assert themselves amongst others. You could perhaps ask for that person to offer at least one opinion in meetings going forward, or discuss things like the use of body language in order to demonstrate confidence in what they say and make it more likely that people will listen.

Don’t Forget On The Spot Feedback

Having said all that, not all of the feedback that you provide needs to come in a formal environment. In fact, 80% of the so-called “Generation Y” claim to prefer on the spot recognition over more formal feedback sessions.

This is an important stat to take into account when providing feedback and you need to recognize that there can be a certain amount of dread that envelopes the traditional annual feedback sessions, especially amongst people who are not used to them.

On the spot recognition can do a lot to bolster confidence quickly and help the employee understand that they are on the right track. A little bit of public recognition, especially if it is off the cuff, will also show the team as a whole that their work is appreciated and recognized by management.

That isn’t to say that only positives need to be confronted in this way though, as this technique can also be used to build an employee’s confrontational skills. Of course, you again need to frame any on the spot negatives correctly. Challenge employees to provide you with answers about why they have made certain decisions and don’t do it in a bombastic way that is intended to humiliate the person in front of their peers, as this will often just create resentment.

So as a general rule, be loud and proud when providing positive on the spot feedback, but keep things quieter and more conversational if you need to discuss a negative.

When You Should Act

This brings us to our next point of when you should act once you have spotted something that merits giving feedback. Of course, on the spot recognition can be provided instantly, but what about subjects where you need to go into a little more detail?

Many managers save all of this major feedback for annual reviews, which often means that the issues that they want to cover have gone a little cold by the time they actually provide their feedback. This isn’t going to help at all if you need to offer feedback on a specific project or an issue that is affecting the workplace right now.

The importance of maintaining regularity in feedback is also demonstrated by the fact that 43% of people who are considered to be highly-engaged workers receive feedback at least once a week.

With that in mind, you could consider creating a weekly model where you hold a sit-down session with the employee to discuss their work over the previous week or so. Not only will this allow you to provide the feedback that you wish to talk about, but such regular sessions will also allow you to stay informed about the progress of projects and may even highlight further issues that need to be expanded on.

Of course, being too regular in your feedback, such as trying to speak to your employees every single day about work-related issues, can lead to some feeling as though they are being singled-out, takes the employee away from their work too often, thus breaking their flow, and also reduces the initiative of your team members. So keep it regular, but don’t go overboard.

Don’t Be Afraid To Receive It

As a manager you are probably going to be more used to receiving feedback from your superiors and providing it to your teams. This is nice and structured, but it also ignores the fact that the people who are working directly with you are often going to have useful things to say about what you could do to improve.

As such, you should not be afraid of receiving feedback from employees. After all, professional development isn’t reserved for those who are lower on the totem pole. This also ties into the safe environment issue we discussed earlier, whereby if an employee feels as though they can speak freely without fear of reprisal, it is more likely that good progress is going to be made by the collective.

Of course, you will likely need to deal with the fact that many employees are a little hesitant to offer feedback to their managers, so use prompts like “What can I do to help you?” and “How can we work together to resolve this issue?” Most importantly of all, don’t flare up if you receive something that you perceive to be negative in response. Maintain your professionalism at all times and be wary of such sessions devolving into emotion-based shouting matches that end up achieving nothing of any worth.

The Final Word

So what conclusions can we draw from all of this? Well we can certainly see that offering feedback is a little more complex than some would have you believe and it often takes management professionals a little bit of time to get things right. These final pointers should offer a good foundation in the art of providing feedback, but your efforts to improve shouldn’t cease just because you are hitting all of them:

• Be positive in tone and presentation, but don’t be afraid to confront the negative issues that need to be dealt with.
• Create a safe environment for the receiver rather than being actively confrontational and accusatory.
• Provide feedback regularly to keep employees engaged with their work and ensure they feel valued by the company.
• Offer actionable advice and try to set goals based around the topics that you cover.
• Consider multiple ways of providing feedback that extend beyond the sit-down meeting.
• Don’t be afraid to receive feedback from your team, as this can help you to make the collective more efficient and productive.

Keep all of that in mind and you should find that your efforts to provide feedback have more effect.