Feedback: the other F word.

Does feedback need to be so hard?

In any job you’ll hear the word feedback often: how important it is, how difficult it can be to give or receive, how someone didn’t agree with it. But is it really such a big deal? 

At Kindred Works, we think feedback is the foundation of your engagement strategy and retention efforts; however, feedback doesn’t need to come with a capital F. The key to your success is to engrain feedback so deeply that your employees give and receive it with little effort. 

Creating the culture

In any organization, your managers are the key to your success. According to Forbes, up to 70% of people are willing to quit their jobs due to bad management practices. Training your managers to give helpful, actionable feedback can be a critical key to success. There are a few things you can do to engrain good practices into your culture:

• Set clear expectations

  It is hard to hold anyone accountable if they don’t know what they are supposed to do in the first place. For your employees, you need very clear job expectations including skills, projects, and the behavior that you expect from them. For managers, setting the expectation that they are required to give feedback - early and often - will ensure they know it is part of their job and allow their manager to ensure it happens through their own feedback loops.

  
  

• Train everyone

  Once you know best practices, feedback can be easy. But you can never assume people have learned the do’s and don’ts of effective feedback. It is important to teach your team the difference between action-oriented feedback and simply expressing feelings (which often aren’t helpful). If the feedback isn’t fair and actionable, it is often fraught with bias, which only harms the team.

  
  

• Ask for feedback

  Managers spend a lot of time giving feedback but often don’t receive it, especially from their reports. And the fix is simple: ask! It will take some time to ensure your team trusts you enough to give you feedback and know you’ll receive it with grace. How and what you ask will have an impact on the feedback they are willing to give. If you simply say “do you have any feedback for me?” you might not get much. But if you ask “what went well and what could I have done 10% better?” you are opening the door to a productive conversation. 

  
  

• Tailor your approach

  Not everyone takes feedback well, especially if they aren’t expecting it. The best thing any manager can do is create strong relationships with their team and peers. Simply asking “how do you prefer to receive feedback?” allows people to decide how they can best receive it. Following their lead allows them to feel empowered and opens them up to hear your feedback more readily.

  
  

• Don’t skip the good feedback

  People find feedback intimidating because they only see it as a negative. In truth, the best way to foster a great culture is to give feedback at all times. Tell your coworkers what they are doing well - even if you aren’t their manager. If their presentation was clear and helpful, tell them! If you like the way they manage their team, let them know. Specific, action oriented compliments go a long way in keeping people happy and motivated at work.

  
  

• Be specific

  We’ve all been there: a manager tells us we did or didn’t do something well, but they don’t tell us why. As a consequence, you’re left wondering what you should or shouldn’t continue doing, guessing at the next steps. The most important thing you can do when giving feedback is be extremely specific. What exactly did the employee do that you liked? What should they avoid in the future? Before giving feedback you should ask yourself: Is this feedback worth giving? And are the next steps clear? Here are some examples:

Example 1: Positive Feedback

• Bad: I liked your presentation!

  This is a nice compliment, but it doesn’t really help the person know why it was good or what they should continue doing in the future.

  
  

• Good: Your presentation was insightful, specifically the points about search behaviors in GenX users. I thought your delivery was clear and concise.

  This is specific and actionable. The employee will know what went well and why,

Example 2: Negative Feedback

• Bad: Your pitch was unclear.

  An employee would have a hard time fixing the pitch themselves without further direction or specifics as to why.

  
  

• Good: Your pitch would be more compelling if you addressed your audience's pain points and provided specific examples of how you could help them achieve their marketing goals.

  This gives the employee very clear next steps regarding how they can make the pitch more clear. 

• Ask clarifying questions

  If you do receive feedback that isn’t specific or action oriented, don’t hesitate to clarify. Be curious about what they are trying to accomplish. Asking “can you be more specific?” or “what should I continue / not continue doing?” can go a long way in making the feedback effective.

If you’re looking to boost your feedback culture on a company level, you can read our blog about surveys!

For more on giving and receiving tough feedback, see our blog Does Everyone Think I Suck? 

Feeling stuck? We’d love to help! Contact us here or email info@kindred-works.co