subject: The Dos And Donts Of Giving Feedback [print this page] Lets start with the Dos Lets start with the Dos
Be Timely in order for feedback to be effective you need to act quickly If months have gone by before you bring up an incident, the person receiving the feedback will interpret your delay to imply that it could not have been that important and the effect of the feedback is greatly diminished
Be Specific talk about your feedback in very direct and specific terms I noticed there were several calculation errors in last months report If you are vague your work is unacceptable how can you get the message across Focus on the action and the results Be very factual in your discussion
Be Open and Offer Suggestions if the objective of your feedback discussion is to produce an improvement of performance then come equipped with suggestions again be specific on what the person can do to affect that change Be open to their perspective and be willing to discuss how they see that situation Enroll them in coming up with a solution that they can buy into If you do not get buy in change will not happen
Create the right environment feedback is best done in person and in a private setting In a business setting arrange a time and place for your discussion Do not just catch people on the fly and throw a few comments their way as they are heading down the hallway and expect your comments to have any impact
Check for understanding and buy in if the feedback discussion is about a performance issue, make sure you check in on how your comments have landed with the person Establish some sort of accountability to verify their buy in. For example if you have an employee who constantly misses deadlines During the discussion ask for a commitment that he will meet all deadlines for the next quarter Make sure that the commitment is specific and not something vague like I ll do a better job of meeting deadlines next quarter
And now for the Do not
Do not Make it personal there is a difference between giving feedback and criticizing Do not make it personal Do not interpret actions showing up late and pass judgment on the person he is slacker and is not truly dedicated to this job Criticism destroys relationships If your employee feels like he is being attacked, he is not going to be very open to hear what you have to say he will immediately become defensive and your job becomes much harder. Focus the discussion on the action, not the person. Make your employee feel that he is being supported, even if his performance is not up to standard
