How to Give Better Feedback at Work
What are the benefits of giving feedback at work?
We're social creatures, and the most important thing in life for us is to feel connected. That's why receiving feedback – both positive and negative – helps us maintain a sense of engagement at work.
Feedback is a powerful tool that can be used to help you improve your strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the team or the organisation. Studies have shown how giving or receiving appropriate feedback has many benefits including increasing performance levels at work while improving relationships with colleagues through deeper understanding on both sides. This doesn't mean just telling them what they did wrong but also offering suggestions about how it could happen differently next time around. It is important to ensure when giving feedback that we activate the individuals reward circuitry not their threat circuitry. By doing this, it ensures the feedback can be received as feedback and assists the individual to not get defensive or at least minimise their defensiveness.
The benefits of feedback at work
A person who receives constructive feedback stands to benefit by becoming more competent. Feedback typically leads to improved decision-making and collaboration, as well as increased productivity and performance. And this benefits not just the individual, but the team as a whole because they have the advantage of being a stronger contributor.
Feedback at work is a two-way street. The individual who provides the feedback stands to benefit from it as well because positive comments lead them in new directions and help improve their skills even further. Feedback also has an impact on teams; when one person gives good advice or makes helpful suggestions others will listen since they know what kind of contribution this could make towards improving performance overall.
When feedback is given constructively, it can help an individual improve their performance and become more successful. Feedback also leads to better decision making which benefits not just the person who received it but everyone on your team because you have a stronger contributor.
The snowballing of these benefits, from individual to workplace, can have huge consequences.
When employees receive positive feedback for their hard work, it can make them feel like a part of the workplace. This is because giving thanks or acknowledging individuals’ contributions shows that you value what they do and how much better off we would be without them around.
No one wants to stay at an organisation where everyone feels ignored so don't forget about recognising your team members with gifts/acknowledgement boards next time something big happens within company lines - It'll really show those folks what’s important.
A 2015 Gallup survey shows that 67% of employees whose managers focused on their strengths were fully engaged in their work, as compared to only 31% of employees whose managers focused on their weaknesses. The 2013-2014 IBM WorkTrends survey of over 19,000 workers in 26 countries across industries and companies showed that employees who receive recognition are almost 3x more engaged than those without. The same research also found this group to be far less likely quit their job.
For instance, in 2015 LinkedIn launched Bravo!, a recognition and rewards program in which peers can recognise a colleague for their contributions and for living the organisation’s core values. The data showed not only the ripple effect that occurs in terms of performance (54% of employees who received three or more awards showed a year-over-year increase on their performance rating), but the transformation of praise recipients into praise providers. As people became happier and more engaged, they became part of the process of making their colleagues more positive and engaged, too.
When people are able to give honest, careful feedback in relationships with their team members they create deeper and more fulfilling partnerships. As a result of this mutual help-giving cycle between individuals on the same side as one another, every person benefits because he or she gets valuable information about how his/her performance can be improved while also providing assistance when needed so that partner feels happy again. When people receive feedback often enough, they begin to feel like partners with those who provide it. This creates a sense of safety in the workplace as well as accountability for one's own performance and development needs – a protected space where employees can grow together into successful teams.
10 Ways to improve feedback delivery at work
Start by knowing the purpose of your feedback and seeking permission to give that feedback. Start with examining your intentions. What’s the purpose of the feedback? Is it to punish the employee, get it off your chest to make you feel better, or is it truly help the employee improve because you care about them? Feedback is personal, and your intention will affect the way your message is delivered and received. The question you must ask the individual before providing any feedback is “ Do I have your permission to give you feedback” then when they say yes you commence providing the feedback. What this does is activate the reward circuitry in the brain not the threat circuitry which allows the individual to be more open to feedback and take it onboard / change behaviour.
Provide critical and positive feedback frequently. Instead of saving feedback for a big event, like the annual performance review, make giving feedback a regular part of your day-to-day conversations and meetings. This ensures that employees know what their strengths are, as well as areas in which they can improve.
Ask some feedback as well. When managers ask for feedback, it helps them establish a foundation of mutual respect and partnership. By role modelling how to receive non-defensively we can help our employees learn this too.
Be immediate and timely. Make sure the feedback is as closely connected to the behaviour as possible, otherwise it will lose its impact.
Ask for permission. Before giving feedback, ask, “Do you mind if I share some feedback with you that I think will help you be more effective?”
Focus on a specific behaviour, not the person. In other words, make the feedback about the "what," and not the “who.” Do not attack the person directly just because you don’t like them.
Allow the feedback to sink in. Let the person process the feedback. Listen empathetically and compassionately.
Ask if they would like advice. When you notice that someone is repeating a certain behaviour, look for ways to help them come up with different actions. For instance, if their response seems self-sufficient but habits can still be improved upon offer specific examples of how they might act differently in order not to repeat the same mistake again or roleplay situations where these alternatives are available so as better understand what it would feel like going through something new without having any previous experience doing so. Coaching, using effective questions is an even better way than giving advice.
Don't do the “sandwich method”. Some say the best way to give critical feedback is to “sandwich” it between two pieces of positive feedback. Most people will see through that technique and see it as manipulative. They may also just remember the positive, and forget all about the critical. Again, it is human nature; we all tend to do that.
Pay close attention to your non-verbals and facial expressions when you deliver feedback. How you say things is just as important as what you’re saying. The delivery of feedback can often be more important than the message itself.
Feedback is a powerful performance enhancement tool. When done correctly, it can help employees learn and grow while also improving the overall effectiveness of your team.
By following these ten guidelines, you will get more comfortable in giving feedback, and your employees will be more receptive to receiving it.
If you want to take your management skills to the next level or need help implementing these guidelines, book a call with us today. Our experts are standing by to assist you in creating an environment where feedback flourishes and productivity soars.
