Make Feedback the Gift that Keeps on Giving
by Rob Zell
Around my office, I am the feedback enforcer. Anytime a manager or peer delivers feedback they glance my way to make sure that they delivered the feedback in an effective manner. Feedback is critical to help team members reach new heights of performance but only when delivered effectively and in a balanced fashion.
There are plenty of models out there for giving feedback. Every leadership program has a formula that they sell as their own proprietary, guaranteed best way to give feedback. I’m not going to sell you on any one way to do it. I am going to make some general observations about what I look for in good feedback.
Context – You have to help people get into the moment in time. Often we give people feedback after the meeting, after the conference call; after we’ve had time to mull it over. While taking some time to deliver thoughtful feedback can be beneficial, waiting too long diminishes the effectiveness. This is especially true when delivering constructive or developmental feedback. Feedback needs to engage the recipient in the moment which allows them to recreate the success or take action to fix the issue. Understanding the conditions in which the behavior took place is critical to being able to repeat or correct it.
Specificity – Well-delivered feedback is specific and clear. Telling someone, “Good job!” or “That could have been better,” doesn’t provide significant direction. The occasional “atta boy” can be motivational and certainly feels good. It doesn’t make it clear exactly what was done well. Most employees want to make their boss happy. This kind of engagement is worth more than pay incentives. In order to continue to be successful, they need to know what works. Despite our fears, they also want to know how to improve. Giving others constructive feedback can be difficult. We fear that we might hurt someone’s feelings. People get their feelings hurt when they feel judged or when inferences are made about intent. Another aspect of specificity is to keep comments related to actions and behaviors, not intent or motivation. There is a big difference between:
“That presentation showed a real lack of effort.”
and
“The presentation lacked a slide that stated the objectives at the beginning.”
The manager is assuming (we know what they say about assuming) that the employee didn’t work hard. In fact they may not have considered the need for such an opening slide. The good news is, keeping all feedback focused on behaviors reinforces desirable behavior as well. An employee might not have meant to perform the task as it occurred. By reinforcing the behavior, managers demonstrate attentiveness to the process and not just the outcomes. Sometimes focusing on only outcomes can lead to destructive behavior as we try to justify poor decisions or bad behaviors.
Balance – In the cases of both context and specificity, the rules apply to both positive and developmental feedback. The reason is that regardless of when we deliver feedback (and it should be delivered more than once or twice a year), we should deliver both positive and developmental feedback. I prefer the term developmental, or at least constructive, over corrective. Corrective sounds far too much like junior high discipline. “Developmental” and “constructive” at least sound like they build something. And isn’t that why we give feedback? Feedback is a tool to help people grow and develop. Positive feedback encourages employees to repeat success, which leads to greater reward and recognition and, potentially, advancement. Developmental feedback helps employees improve on gaps and eventually receive positive feedback for a task well done. If we never give developmental feedback, employees may fail to see the gaps that are preventing them from even greater success. If we never give positive feedback, employees may find it difficult to feel proud of the work they do, constantly waiting for the other shoe to fall. Research shows, as shared by Zenger and Folkman, that finding the right balance can be very powerful for driving team performance.
Beware the trap of sandwiching feedback. You know the advice: say something positive, then give the person your critique and finally, end on a positive note. I’m okay with that format, as long as you don’t use the word “but.” That word has the power to negate anything positive that came before it. Frankly, it isn’t necessary. Just say your piece, focused on behaviors, not intent, and you’ll be fine.
Focused on Esteem – I train leadership and communication skills in my organization and I am passionate about reinforcing this particular element of feedback. It’s why I save it for last. If you take away nothing else, please remember this final point. Regardless of when or how often you give feedback, your role as a leader should be Hippocratic in nature: Do no harm. Today’s workers spend most of their waking hours engaged in tasks for their job, engaged with peers and supervisors for more time than they spend with their friends and families outside of work. Because they spend so much time in the workplace, they should never feel worse when they leave because of interactions with their boss. They may feel bad because they didn’t meet a goal or a project fell through. They may regret trying a new task because they failed miserably. These are all cases of personal engagement and a sense of personal letdown. At no time should a supervisor pile more on top of the employees’ own disappointment. Instead, the supervisor should strive to, at a minimum, maintain their self-esteem by exploring what was learned and channeling the disappointment into planning for the next chance.
People often joke that feedback is a gift with no return receipt. In reality, feedback should be a gift that keeps on giving. It should be a motivational experience that drives employees to perform better, work harder and give up more discretionary effort. When they do, the team is more successful, more engaged and more likely to support your brand. Ultimately, it makes the organization more profitable.
What are your suggestions for delivering effective feedback? What do you find challenging about giving developmental feedback? I’d be happy to give you some feedback on your ideas.
