You get
feedback from the time you're a toddler. "Good work!" "Put that
down, it doesn't belong to you!" "You can do it! "
In school, you get grades and report cards, win (or don't win) awards,
become (or fail to become) part of a winning team.
Sometimes, feedback can be difficult to give or get. But in the business
setting, feedback is a key tool for success. That's because a manager who
doesn't give and take feedback is lacking key tools needed to lead a
successful team, sell a successful product, or manage a difficult situation
In this article, we’ll look at just two kinds of feedback you’ll need to
manage: feedback you give to employees for work they've done, and
feedback you receive from employees about your managerial performance.
Each of
these types of feedback can—if properly collected and shared—be a valuable
tool for improvement. If poorly managed, though, feedback can become a painful
experience which leads to bitterness, in-fighting, and other serious problems.
Let’s look first at methods for giving feedback which inspire rather than
undermine your employees.
5 Managerial Strategies for Giving Feedback
Feedback is, essentially, commentary on an employee’s performance. It is NOT
the same thing, however, as a performance review or annual evaluation. Feedback,
ideally, is immediate, accurate, fair, clear, and action-oriented. It happens,
not on a schedule, but as needed. It may be positive or negative. Most
importantly, as described on the Feedback and Coaching page of the Florida
International University website, it is a collaborative tool to help your employee—not a weapon to punish, threaten, or humiliate.
We can unpack this description by looking at five specific examples of
effective feedback.
1. Immediate Feedback
Effective feedback is immediate. Rather
than waiting for many offenses (or successes) to pile up, it’s helpful to
respond quickly when an employee has failed or succeeded in coming up to
expectations. Feedback delayed can lead to a domino effect of problems.
Imagine Ralph, a young employee who comes in late. Rather than mentioning
the issue, you let it go. It happens again. And again. You become increasingly
annoyed. Ralph’s co-workers become annoyed. Meanwhile, Ralph assumes that your
lack of response means the behavior is acceptable—so he continues to come in
late. By the time you address the issue, you and Ralph’s co-workers are truly
angry, and Ralph is confused, hurt, and possibly even overwhelmed by your
response to a behavior that’s been tolerated up until now.
On the other hand, what if Ralph is doing a terrific job managing his clients?
You’ve been hearing good things, but don’t think to mention it to Ralph. As a
result, Ralph has no idea that his approach is a good one, and may start making
changes that undermine his excellent work. Immediate praise not only leads to
continued excellence, but can also motivate employees to even greater effort.
2. Accurate Feedback
Accuracy builds trust
between manager and employee. It also forestalls the possibility of a pointless
argument about whether your feedback is based in fact, hearsay, or assumptions.
Before giving feedback (particularly negative feedback), it’s important to do
your research, ask appropriate questions, and have clear evidence in hand of
the problem you’re addressing. If you’re not sure why a problem has arisen,
find out rather than guessing.
When Bill tells you that Jessica is undermining their shared project, don’t
take his word for it. Ask for details and evidence, and double-check your
sources. When Linda’s performance begins to decline, don’t assume it’s because
she’s become lazier over time; instead, describe the issue to Linda and ask her
to explain what’s going on. True, she may just be lazy—but she may also be
dealing with a personal crisis or an illness.
3. Fair Feedback
One of the biggest complaints employees have about their
managers is that they are “unfair.” Typically, this means that some employees
get more and are expected to do less than other employees. In some ways, this
sort of “unfairness” is unavoidable: some employees may need to work longer
hours because of a deadline or because of the nature of their work. Some
employees may be paid more because of seniority, or because they’ve earned a
commission. But often unfairness is the result of intended or unintended
favoritism.
Before giving feedback, therefore, it’s important to analyze the content of the
feedback to be sure it’s truly fair. That may mean checking your corporate
policy to see whether, for example, it’s allowable for a parent to take extra
time off for a sick child, or to what degree certain employees should have
access to resources, supplies, perks, or other goodies that are not available
to all. Be sure, before you share your feedback, that you’re ready to respond
effectively to the comment “That’s not fair!”
4. Clear Feedback
Elizabeth is a member of your team, but she’s also a good
friend. She’s been shirking her responsibilities as part of a working group,
and you need to let her know that’s not acceptable. But you don’t want to
undermine your friendship. So you tell Elizabeth, “You know, it’d be great if
you did a little more, you know, with the working group.” Elizabeth walks
away hearing “If you like, you can do a little more with the working group,”
decides she isn’t interested, and does nothing. A clearer message would help
Elizabeth to work more effectively with her group, avoid negative comments, and
retain her positive relationship with you.
5. Action-Oriented Feedback
Hard as it may be to hear feedback, it’s even
harder to hear feedback and have no idea what to do about it. When you tell an
employee “Your performance is slipping,” you’re giving them almost nothing to
work with. The same is true even of positive feedback: “Great job!” doesn’t
give your employee any information about what’s working well. Whether you’re
describing a problem or a success, therefore, it’s important to give concrete
information about what’s working or what isn’t working, and what kind of action
you hope to see in future. Much more helpful than general feedback are such
clear, action-oriented statements as:
“You’ve arrived late for work three times this
week; I need you to be here five minutes before work starts.”
“You did a great job describing our services to
the client; stick with that approach for future client meetings.”
“I’m worried about your progress toward the
deadline; let’s meet weekly to be sure you’re hitting objectives in a
timely manner.”
Your job as a manager doesn't end with
giving others feedback or direction. As the leader of your team, you
also need to be open to hearing and responding to feedback about your
own abilities and challenges. Even more importantly, you need to create a
channel of communication that allows your team members to keep you in
the loop when problems, challenges, or opportunities arise.
6 Tips for
Receiving Employee Feedback
According to the Harvard Business Review,
“Most people have good reasons for keeping their opinions from higher
ups.” The most prevalent reason given is fear of retaliation.
The
more power you have as a manager, the more anxious your employees are about
saying anything that could result in lower pay, fewer opportunities, or a glass
ceiling.
As a manager, though, you need to hear from your employees. What’s
working well for them? What’s working poorly? Are there bottlenecks
you’re not aware of? Personnel issues no one has mentioned? How can
you improve your employees’ situation so that they can improve their
performance? A great example of this comes from an article produced by the Academy of Management which describes the value of employee feedback at NASA:
On
one occasion during his tenure with NASA during the 1960s and
1970s, famous chief scientist Wernher von Braun sent a bottle of
champagne to an engineer who admitted that he might have inadvertently
short-circuited the Redstone missile which went out of control
during pre-launch testing. A subsequent investigation revealed that
the engineer was right. As a result of the engineer's voluntary
disclosure, an expensive missile redesign was avoided.
In this example, a manager let his employees know that they were encouraged to share even bad news—and
that open communication would be valued above flawless performance. As a
result, an employee chose to share information he might otherwise have
withheld. In the long run, opening lines of communication led to huge
savings in cost and time. Here are some tips for opening up
communication between yourself and your team members.
1. Create an Old-Fashioned Suggestion Box—and Use It
Nothing says
“anonymous” like a suggestion box placed in a public location, where anyone can
drop in a note without signing it. Not every suggestion will be positive or
welcome, but some will be. When you receive a useful suggestion from the box,
be sure you mention it to your employees so they know their voice has been heard.
2. Develop and Consistently Follow a No-Retribution Policy
It’s one thing to
say “there will be no retribution for negative feedback;” it’s another thing to
get employees to believe it. Make sure your employees are aware of your written
policy and how it works, and mention it when appropriate so they know it’s
being utilized.
3. Show Employees What Useful, Constructive Feedback Looks Like
Whenever
you provide feedback to your employees, be sure it’s immediate, accurate, fair,
clear, and action-oriented. Explain what you’re doing so that the process is
transparent; for example, you might tell an employee “I’m letting you know this
right away because you’ll be doing this type of project in the future, and I
want to nip any potential problems in the bud.” Let employees know that
they are encouraged to give you similar feedback.
4. Listen Carefully to Feedback, and Gather More Information When Necessary
If an employee tells you “I need more direction,” rather than nodding and
smiling, ask for more details. Find out what information the employee feels
he’s missing, and how he’d like to receive additional direction. If
appropriate, get the team together to find out whether the individual
employee’s criticism is relevant to the whole group.
5. Show Your Employees That You Listen to and Value Their Feedback
When
you’ve received helpful feedback, say so—in meetings, in newsletters, or in
group emails. Give credit as it’s due; for example “Joe mentioned to me that
you’re having a hard time getting the resources you need, so I looked into
options and found that I could get you more laptops and an updated version of
the software you’re using.” This type of positive response should inspire
more employees to share critical information with you, rather than complaining
behind your back.
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6. Respond to Feedback With Moderation
An employee accuses you of unfairly
favoring another employee, and you hit the roof or give a long explanation of
your motivations and reasons. A few minutes later, upon reflection, you realize
that the accusation had a grain of truth in it. By now, though, it’s too late
to take back your hasty response.
Even if you were to apologize, your employee
might think twice about bringing concerns to you in the future. A better choice
is to listen, take notes, ask questions, and let your employee know that you’ll
think carefully about his feedback. If your employees are upset, it’s more
important to understand and fix the problem than it is to defend your
motivations or actions
Like Werner von Braun in the NASA story
described at the beginning of this section, you can benefit tremendously
from honest, timely feedback from your employees. Like von Braun,
though, you'll need to show your employees that you honestly want,
value, and will listen to feedback. It takes self-confidence and
flexibility—but isn't that why you were promoted to a managerial job in the first place?
Feedback: A Tool for Growth
Whether
you're giving or getting feedback, as a manager you're using feedback
as a tool for growth. When you provide the right kind of feedback to
your employees, you're offering them immediate, relevant, actionable
information they can put to work for positive change. When you make
yourself available to receive and act on feedback from your employees,
you give yourself the opportunity to learn, change, and grow.
As you improve your feedback skills, you’ll also improve
your ability to recognize and respond to positive and negative behaviors. You’ll
also gain insight into your own strengths and challenges as a manager. Over
time, you’ll develop a solid rapport with your employees—and your business
will benefit.
