Making Feedback work for you!
For leaders of all levels, an essential part of your role is clarifying expectations, coaching, delivering feedback, and providing guidance and resources.
But as humans, it is sometimes difficult to deliver feedback, especially if it is constructive. It is hard to have that difficult conversation! Unfortunately, avoiding the inevitable will not improve or reinforce the needed behavior and performance.
How you Prepare and deliver the feedback matters!
A method that works is thinking of feedback as a present or a gift. The feedback gift improves your team members’ performance and should be given regularly. The thought you put into your gift (feedback), how you package your gift (feedback), and how you deliver it makes a difference.
To gain your team members’ trust and reinforce and improve behavior and performance, positive and corrective feedback is needed!
Overview of the Types of feedback:
Positive (Motivational) Feedback:
The feedback recognizes what has been done well or satisfactorily. It may also include suggestions for strengthening or enhancement of the desired behavior.
Corrective (Improvement) Feedback
The feedback identifies what could have been done differently. Offer suggestions for improvement or alternative performance strategies.
Planning/Preparing is Critical!
Feedback planning leads to better outcomes for the team member and the leader. Effective feedback planning should address these three primary questions:
- First, what do you want to accomplish?
- Why do you want to change or encourage behavior?
- What constructive ideas do you have to help change the behavior or assist the team member in continuing to do the job well?
Overall feedback Delivery Guidelines:
- Praise in public, criticize in private
- Remember “Egos’ (The team members and yours)
- Think it through and be specific and timely
- Monitor your nonverbal reactions
- Communicate respect.
- Be sensitive to differences in preferences for levels of directness and degrees of formality.
- Keep communication two-way and check for understanding
- Always end the meeting with the next steps and follow up after the meeting with key points and action steps.
Feedback is a gift that helps you and your people succeed! The more thought and planning you put into your feedback session, how you package your feedback, and how you deliver it makes a difference.
Remember- your success is tied to your team members’ success!
