Employee Feedback is a Gift

By Annette Matheney,  Crothers Consulting
​Let's face it, the gift of feedback depends upon how it is given and how it is received. When we reference the word “feedback” it can mean different things to different people. When feedback is presented with respect and consideration, it is genuinely like a beautifully wrapped gift. It is inviting, trust-building, and makes you eager to receive it. Conversely, feedback that is presented without care and/or offensively is like handing someone a dirty laundry bag and callously calling it a “gift.” It is difficult for the recipient to stay open to receiving this kind of feedback. If we appropriately want to offer valuable feedback, it must be looked at from two different but equally important perspectives: the presentation (how we wrapped it) and the contents (what we stuffed inside the box).

To make sure feedback is presented and received as a gift, the following techniques will produce a more productive exchange and hopefully sustain the development process.

1. Be specific 
You can improve your feedback by using specific examples where you saw a problem or positive event and referring to it directly. There is no value in telling a team member, “You need to work better with your colleagues,” if you do not have any specific examples that you can use to describe why this is the case. Without being specific, your feedback can easily be ignored.

2. Incorporate your individual company, mission, vision, values, or purpose to deliver the message 
Sometimes you will come across situations where you feel that someone’s behavior was not right, but you cannot tell what the actual problem is. A helpful way to resolve this may be to see whether you could use your company values or your team purpose to supply a reference point for your feedback.

For example, if one of your company values is “teamwork,” then you may be able to use this to highlight poor teamwork behavior from your team.
Company values or a team purpose can be a good reference point for identifying a behavior that is unwanted and specifically drawing attention to it.

3. Avoid the sandwich technique 
We have heard of the sandwich technique, where negative feedback is given between two pieces of valuable feedback.

“That was a great presentation you gave yesterday, nice work.”
“Your quarterly goals have not been addressed and this is a significant issue.”
“Thank you for offering your feedback on our company goals presentation, it was well received.”

People often feel awkward giving bad feedback, so they try to soften the blow by saying something nice at the same time. This is less effective because you are mixing positive and negative points. Your team member might leave the meeting feeling confused and not understand that there’s a problem.

4. Be mindful not to use the “he said, she said” model 
Informal feedback about other people (yes, gossip!) is common. When you are working in this environment, it is important to attempt to check any “gossip” before you pass it onto anybody.

If you are unable to verify your feedback, do not say anything, because it could be someone simply “playing the game” to get what they want. Be incredibly careful if you are using somebody else’s information when giving feedback to a team member, if you have not observed the specific action or behavior for yourself.

5. Make sure you collaborate with those who work directly with the team member 
If you are in a team where you do not always work closely with every member, it is important to build relationships with the people who do. For example, you may lead a team of people who work closely with other business areas, so they are regularly active. You cannot see their behavior directly, therefore you need to find ways to monitor their performance. If not, you will be giving inaccurate feedback and playing a guessing game based on your own limited experiences.

In my experience, there have been several instances where team members did not know there was an issue until it came to their annual performance review. That is a shocking surprise for some!

Providing feedback promptly allows your team members a chance to improve their performance, rather than “hearing about it later.” This is equally important with positive feedback. If you neglect to provide praise for a job well done, the team member often has nothing to gauge their progress.

Keeping these tips in mind when giving any type of feedback will certainly help in adding value to the receiver and the giver, and ultimately making it a “gift.”
 
If you would like more guidance on the art of giving feedback, please check out our workshops for more information or contact Isabelle Brennan.