You may have had a Eureka experience and realized you should be giving honest, helpful feedback to everyone on your team! You want to do it now! And on a regular basis.
Maybe the reason for your insight is not so pleasant—such as being fed up with a poor performer and realizing you’ve not really talked with them about your concerns. Maybe you have an eager beaver who constantly demands feedback and craves bigger assignments. Maybe the team dynamics went awry, and with hindsight you see that feedback would have gotten people on track a long time ago.
So you’re ready to get started
You may be wondering what method you should use. You may want more training on how to give feedback. You may even want an online tool or outline for how to make notes for each person.
Any of these options may alleviate your anxiety. By now, you may be nervous or fearful about giving honest feedback after delaying it solong.
While experts and trainers and writers like me can provide you with tons of tools and tips, the biggest tip of all—and it is HUGE—is to just do it. As Melinda Gates said, “It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” I promise you, it will become easier once you’ve started. The more you delay feedback and stir up negative emotions in the brain, both for you and for others who sense your silence on the topic of their work, the worse the situation will get.
The key to giving feedback is to get over your emotional hang-ups about feedback being a negative experience and get started.
If you’ve had a sudden turnaround, tell the team first
You have to admit that you weren’t providing feedback much in the past. Tell them that you want to do it and your goal is it to help them succeed. Make sure they know that feedback doesn’t mean they’re being taken down a peg. Let them know you will be checking in to help them succeed, and clearly state that you want their feedback too.
If your company has annual reviews, make sure you implement your new feedback philosophy AFTER reviews are completed when there’s plenty of time for everyone to improve. You don’t want people to get paranoid about ratings right when you are doing something to improve the workplace culture.
Following the team meeting, set up a 20-30 minute meeting with each person.
Pick the right feedback topics for each person
Don’t dump! Start with one or two clear improvement areas that will make the biggest difference. If you’ve avoided giving feedback, it won’t work to express all of your frustrations from the past. Also include one or two positive feedback topics.
A few examples of what to say to each person:
- Stick to the recent event
“I noticed you were quiet in the project meeting you led yesterday.”
- Describe it in a calm and helpful way
“Jerry and Terry appeared confused about our direction.”
- Explain why it was a problem (or positive contribution)
“They are a week behind on their part of the project, and I am concerned some others might get delayed as well.”
- Make a request for what you’d like them to do in the future
“I’d like to ask you to spend time explaining our direction at the next meeting and getting their questions out in the open.”
Chances are good that you will feel good after these one-on-one interactions and you will see some fast improvements.
What’s next?
Pat yourself on the back. Bravo! This is huge!
Proceed with frequent check-ins—even a quick exchange in the hall—every few days and continue honest, helpful feedback to coach them along the way. Eventually feedback will become commonplace and quick. You’ve now have started a feedback culture that’s a positive for everyone and supports the goals of your team and each of your team members!
Anna Carroll, MSSW, is a feedback coach, speaker, and author of The Feedback Imperative: How To Give Everyday Feedback To Speed Up Your Team’s Success. She helps leaders and professionals speed up their cycles of feedback, improvement, and results, including training for how to give and receive helpful transparent feedback. An important quality of her “everyday feedback” approach is lowering stress and building great relationships along the way. Learn more about Anna Carroll and receive your free Feedback Starter Kit at https://www.everydayfeedback.com/
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If you want more support on how to give and receive effective feedback, we invite you to join our value-packed, self-paced virtual course. This course will give you everything you need to support your staff while becoming a stronger leader. Join today and revisit the material as many times as is helpful. Click the photo below to learn more.
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