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The importance of feedback culture


Giving and receiving feedback is an essential ingredient for the long-term success of any organization… or any relationship for that matter.

What is employee feedback? And why is it important?

Employee feedback is any information exchanged by employees (formally or informally) regarding their performance, skills, or ability to work within a team. Positive and negative feedback is important because it helps break bad habits, reinforces positive behavior, and enables teams to work more effectively toward their goals.

Whatever your role in your company, at some point you’re going to have to give feedback. In my experience, giving praise is easy because everyone loves a nice compliment. Constructive criticism, on the other hand, is much harder to deliver… and can be just as challenging to hear.

Following are a few strategies that I learned in my career path for giving effective, actionable employee feedback.

1. Give timely feedback

Don’t wait weeks or even months to pull someone up after a bad incident or observed behaviour. Depending on the severity, perhaps it can wait until your weekly meeting to broach the subject. However, if the incident was more severe, address it as soon as possible. Make sure you are properly prepared beforehand so you can provide solid, actionable feedback. The same goes for positive reinforcement – praise your employee’s work in a timely manner. Productive feedback means giving it frequently.

When you hold off, minor issues can grow into major ones, and the person receiving the critique is more likely to become defensive if you start pointing out problems that stretch back weeks, months, or years. You’ve also robbed them of the opportunity to make an improvement the entire time you’ve held back your feedback.

Hence try to provide feedback in a timely manner. Also, instead of providing it by email or text, try to have a 1:1 conversation. That way, they won’t take your words in ways you never intended. Instead, have a live conversation if at all possible (in person, over video chat, or on the phone)

2. Pick the right time and place to provide the feedback

Picking the right time and place is essential in providing feedback to your employee. How serious is the matter? Do you need to schedule a formal meeting to discuss the issue or can you have an informal chat in the tearoom? Wherever you decide to talk, make sure it’s private so you can have an open and honest conversation without worrying about others overhearing you.

3. Avoid negative language

Avoid using negative phrases that discourage and exclude, such as “You shouldn’t …,” and “I don’t think…” when speaking. This kind of language puts people on the defensive. This may cause the employee to shut down, ignoring and disregarding your feedback. Always try to be encouraging and use phrases that start with “Maybe you could try…”, or “Have you considered doing…?”

4. Don’t sugarcoat anything

Let your co-workers know that you’re not criticizing them as a human being, and if you’re their team lead or manager, make sure they know their job isn’t in danger (unless, of course, their job is at stake… but if that’s the case, in most cases it shouldn’t be the first time you’ve addressed the issue).

5. Be specific and provide context

When addressing an issue, it’s important to give specific examples of where the problem occurred. Be as precise as possible about when and where you’ve noticed the issue and why it’s problematic.

The specific, actionable feedback is far more constructive, and it pushes everyone towards a real solution. That’s what feedback is all about.

Reasons why employee feedback is important

1. Enhances performance
2. Clarifies expectations
3. Builds confidence
4. Improves leadership
5. Promotes employee loyalty

That's all for this blog. I hope the above points will be helpful to you if you are going to provide feedback in your career path. Thank you for reading and keep learning :-)




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