Everyone likes to hear that they are doing a good job! Positive feedback delivered in a constructive manner can invoke feelings of pride, confidence and a sense of a job well done both for the employee and the manager. Employees who feel positive are more likely to continue to demonstrate the behaviours for which they have been praised.
Unfortunately we can’t always control the feedback we receive, but we can control and manage the feedback we deliver, and that’s what we will be talking about today
Whether you are working as a manager or a team member, at some stage you will be required to give some form of feedback to colleagues, team members and even your manager. When giving feedback you should follow these three principles
- Be constructive; focus on the issue, not the person.
- Be timely and specific with your feedback
- Focus on what behaviours you would like them to do or demonstrate.
Next time you have to give feedback think about using some of the following tips…
- Present perceptions, reactions and opinions as such, not as facts.
- Feedback should be in terms of specific, observable behaviour (not general or global). Provide specific examples – I noticed yesterday that when you were dealing with your client you kept looking at your phone rather than paying attention to the client.
- When feedback must be evaluative rather than descriptive, you can use established criteria such as performance standards.
- Feedback about performance should provide examples of “high” and “low” areas of that performance, as well as specific behaviours, which appear to be contributing to or limiting effectiveness.
- In discussing problem areas where there are established procedures or solutions, suggestions should be given on means to improve performance.
- Feedback should avoid emotion-raising, “loaded” terms (this generates defensiveness). Avoid things like… my 5 year old son could write a better report than the one you submitted!
- Feedback should deal with things, which the individual can control.
- When encountering emotional reactions or defences, these should be dealt with as such, rather than arguing or trying to convince by logic of facts.
We will look at receiving feedback in another blog.