Effective feedback is specific and not digressive. While giving feedback, do not comment on the employee's personality or attitude as that is something dependent on your perception. Instead, offer feedback on his or her actions and behavior and give specific examples wherever possible.
Ensure that you offer timely feedback rather than waiting for a long time after the event in question is over. Keep in mind that the purpose of giving feedback to employees is to help them, not discourage or disgrace them. Besides giving feedback, offer suggestions for improvement and change and also provide resources to help the employee implement the suggestions. Reward improvement in the person's behavior or performance following your feedback.
Here are a few tips to follow when giving feedback to your team:
- Ensure that only those people who should be receiving your feedback are present. Giving feedback in the open can cause discomfort for the person on the receiving end. He or she may become unreceptive, defeating the purpose of the feedback session.
- When you sit down to give feedback, make sure that you stick to your list of topics. Digressing and bringing up additional points can be too much for the other person to take in at once.
- Try to make the other person understand that your feedback is to help him or her perform better professionally and is for his or her own good. Establish trust through a comforting tone, positive body language, and friendly demeanor.
- Feedback sessions may turn into heated battles. Keep in mind that the objective is not to punish your team member but to help him or her. While it may be natural for the other person to resist your feedback or get annoyed, as a manager you should take control of the situation. Ensure that your comments are taken in the right spirit by your team member and your tone and intentions are not misinterpreted. Do not let the conversation blow up and take the wrong direction.
Effective feedback can help managers build a strong team that performs well and stays healthy. By giving regular feedback managers can improve communication with their team members. People resist ineffective feedback and in turn make no effort to improve their performance. While this degrades the team's performance, the overall performance of the organization suffers too.
