Caret Ltd. - How do you give feedback and how well?

How do you give feedback and how well?
by Danny Morris and Oliver Nyumbu

“He never tells me how well I am doing or even whether I am prioritising the right things. Sometimes I just wish he had the courage to actually encourage those who work for him”. These are the words of a Director speaking about their Chief Executive. Sadly it is a story we have heard many times before. In our experience many teams and organisations operate cultures where people experience ineffective feedback - if they receive any at all. And yet, studies show the benefits of building a culture of feedback can be considerable and mission critical for businesses or teams. In this article, Danny and Oliver look at some practical ideas to help managers deliver effective feedback.

Great feedback does not just occur when a person is under-performing or even being mediocre; it is also essential for those individuals who are excelling. Whatever the context, the aim of feedback is always to help a person’s performance rise to a higher level.

Here are some practical ideas to help managers deliver effective feedback.

Choose your time well and engage the person in the process.
Saying to someone as they are leaving the office on a Friday evening, “I need to see you first thing Monday morning; have a good weekend!” is not the best way to begin. Instead it’s important to set the scene and ask for their involvement, “I need to talk to you about your sales figures and get your ideas as to how we can develop them further - when would be a convenient time for you to meet?” By giving people context it enables them to prepare and helps them to give their full attention to the meeting.

Be specific
This requires preparation - for example, imagine you are seeking to give positive feedback on a report someone has completed successfully. You might want to ask yourself - What was great about the report? What effort did the person put in? What challenges did they face in completing it? How does the report impact you and others? What did they do that made a difference and added value? Sharing answers to such questions provides insight and clarity that can be built on.

Strive for self-directed learning
This can be achieved through asking for information such as: Tell me six things you did really well; Tell me three things you learned about yourself here; Tell me about two big challenges you faced and overcame; Tell me what resources you had to find to get this done.

Blend candour and support
Support without candour can come across as wishy-washy flattery. On the other hand, candour without support can be experienced as bruising. Be generous and genuine with praise - in the words of Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart):

The sweeper chooses the broom
It’s a Starbucks principle that reminds managers not to veer into micro-management by being too prescriptive about the process a person chooses to meet their objectives.

Kick the ball not the player..
..and speak out of respect. People are not bad because their performance is. The best feedback helps to focus on issues, not undermine confidence by apportioning blame. It may also help to frame the meeting on what some call feedforward - focusing forward positively on what can be changed, grown, or developed. This enables individuals to focus on establishing a positive future rather than dwelling on a disappointing past.

Ensure a clear line of sight..
..between what the employee is doing or not doing and the strategic priorities of the business.

When you give feedback to others how do you approach it? When you have done it successfully what did you do? Consider how many of these principles characterise the way you give feedback to people. What could you do to become excellent at giving feedback?