CHAPTER 5

Make a Habit of Providing Feedback

Feedback can be a useful tool for addressing performance gaps and recognizing exemplary work. In the same way that periodic tests and assignments help both teachers and students gauge progress over the course of a semester before the final exam, ongoing feedback keeps both you and your employee on top of how they are performing as they work toward their goals. Even companies that have done away with traditional elements of the performance management process—goal setting or formal annual reviews—still rely on regular feedback. In fact, many organizations are asking managers to offer it more frequently, as it’s one of the most flexible and effective tools available for getting results from your people.

Make giving feedback a regular part of your ongoing performance management approach as a way to recognize good work and redirect missteps in progress.

The Two Types of Regular Feedback

Ongoing feedback falls into one of two main categories. Positive feedback or praise—Here’s what you did really well—can enhance confidence and increase an employee’s sense of commitment. Constructive feedback—Here’s where you need to improve—is informative, providing a basis for discussion and redirection. Whatever the type, feedback is most effective when it’s grounded in specific details that an employee can use.

Positive feedback should pinpoint particular actions of merit: “I liked how you handled the prototype demonstration. The way you began with the underlying technical challenges, went on to describe how those obstacles were addressed, and finished with the actual demonstration helped us all understand the technology.” While vague praise—“Great job with that prototype demonstration!”—may not do harm, it doesn’t communicate much useful information.

Constructive feedback should target specific opportunities for improvement: “Your demonstration suffered from a lack of organization. I wasn’t sure of the problem the prototype aimed to solve, and the technical challenges weren’t well-defined.” Clear statements help an employee understand what to work on. On the other hand, unvarnished criticism—“People in the audience were bored and confused by your demonstration”—is neither specific nor helpful and offers neither insight nor room for improvement.

Specific feedback, both positive and constructive, is effective at different times with different types of people. Positive feedback is especially helpful for employees at early stages of their career or for individuals who are trying to master new things. “When you don’t really know what you are doing, encouragement helps you stay optimistic and feel more at ease with the challenges you are facing—something novices tend to need,” social psychologist Heidi Grant explains in her HBR.org article “Sometimes Negative Feedback Is Best.”

More-experienced employees, on the other hand, will likely find constructive criticism more helpful and informative, showing them where they should expend their efforts and how they might improve. “When you are an expert and you already know more or less what you are doing, it’s constructive criticism that can help you do what it takes to get to the top of your game,” says Grant. Seasoned professionals and high performers tend to be hungrier for and more appreciative of constructive feedback that helps them advance even further.

Frequent feedback is necessary for all your employees—even your top performers. Don’t assume your top performers know how well they’re doing or how much you appreciate them. “The higher the performer, the more frequently you should be providing feedback,” says Jamie Harris, a senior consultant at Interaction Associates.¹ People may find constructive feedback easier to take in when they feel genuinely appreciated for what they’ve done well.

While providing input on an employee’s work can be uncomfortable for many managers, it’s important to make your feedback frequent and timely. “The primary reason people struggle with giving and receiving feedback is not a lack of proficiency but of frequency,” notes social scientist and author Joseph Grenny in his HBR.org article “How to Make Feedback Feel Normal.” Check-ins provide opportunities for you to regularly assess progress toward goals and discuss your direct report’s performance, but don’t hold off on giving feedback right away just because you have a meeting on the calendar set for a later date. Even a short debrief can be useful. For example, use the two minutes it takes to walk back to your office after a meeting to offer your employee feedback on their presentation—what they did well or how they could improve for next time. With constructive comments especially, it’s important to give feedback as soon as possible after you’ve observed a behavior you want to correct or reinforce.

If you’re like most managers, addressing employees about problems and pointing out their shortcomings is the least enjoyable part of your job. No one likes to deliver bad news or tell someone that their work or behavior is unacceptable. But if you avoid relaying the message, the employee’s unsatisfactory work or behavior will most likely continue—or worsen.

If you feel a natural reluctance to confront poor performance, remind yourself:

• If your aim is to improve performance, giving feedback is the most effective and efficient tool for redirecting and enhancing your employees’ work.
• Not giving feedback will undermine the team. Poor performers demoralize others and thwart the success of the unit as a whole.
• You’re doing that person a favor. The poor performer may actually think that they are doing satisfactory work. A frank discussion will clear up the misconception and give the employee an opportunity to improve, perhaps saving their job.
• Some employees like getting constructive feedback. Since it’s essential to improving performance—and, by extension, to career development—many people find it valuable.

When you see an issue that needs to be addressed, don’t avoid confrontation. Having an honest discussion about performance problems isn’t fun for either of you, but when the conversation is over you’ll know that your employee is on the right track for improvement.

Conducting the Feedback Discussion

The feedback you give will most likely cover a wide range of topics, and you’ll want to tailor your delivery to the particular situation you’re discussing as well as the person you’re talking to. But there are some general guidelines you can follow when providing feedback.

Set the stage for a productive conversation

Before you sit down with your employee, make a few notes about what you want to say. Your goal is to elicit positive change in future performance or workplace behavior, not to rake someone over the coals for past failures, so don’t dwell on the past. If your direct report Deepa had a rocky time running her first new-employee orientation session, for example, cast your comments in the light of improving her next event. Give some thought to the most important things you can help her do better next time, rather than enumerating all the flaws you saw.

Next consider the logistics of your conversation. Be thoughtful about when you offer unexpected feedback. You don’t want to risk throwing your employee off balance with constructive feedback if emotions are running high or they’re due to deliver an important presentation later that day. Nor do you want to minimize the effect of giving positive feedback because you’re rushing back from a meeting that ran late—or cut a productive feedback conversation short to get to your next commitment. Choose a time close enough to the event that it is fresh in everyone’s minds, while still taking into account other considerations. You might, for example, wait a day (or at least a few hours) before talking to Deepa about the orientation session rather than addressing it immediately, especially if she seems flustered or frustrated. Let her cool down so that when you do deliver your message, she’ll be primed to hear it.

Choose a meeting place where you won’t be distracted or interrupted. You’ll want to conduct the conversation in a location where you both can easily hear each other and where you’re free from social interactions that could inhibit your employee from being open and honest. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to meet in your office, if you think your employee might find that intimidating. An afternoon discussion over coffee in the quiet company cafeteria could work well, but meeting in the cafeteria during a busy lunch hour won’t allow either of you to devote your due attention to the conversation.

Engage in a two-way dialogue

A feedback conversation gives each party an opportunity to tell their side and to hear the same from the other. If your goal in delivering feedback is to elicit change, your best tool is a two-way discussion, not a monologue. It’s easy for an employee to shut down when feeling criticized, so to make progress, involve them in the conversation. Deliver your feedback, and give your employee your undivided attention. Listen to what they have to say, but also note physical cues, such as a grimace or crossed arms. What are they expressing, verbally or otherwise? (See the sidebar “Be an Active Listener.”)

Open the conversation by soliciting the person’s thoughts or reactions to assess if you see the problem in a similar light. Perhaps your greatest concern about Deepa’s orientation session was her delivery, but she thinks the technical issues with showing her slide deck was the main problem. Don’t impose your own judgment at first. Start with an evenhanded question, such as “Deepa, how do you think the orientation session went?”

Asking the right questions will help you understand the other person and their view of performance. Open-ended and closed questions will yield different types of responses. Open-ended questions invite participation and idea sharing. Use them to get the other person talking and for the following purposes:

• To clarify causes of a problem. “What do you think the major issues are with this project?”
• To uncover attitudes or needs. “How do you feel about our progress to date?”
• To explore alternatives and feel out solutions. “What would happen if . . . ?”

Closed questions, by contrast, lead to yes or no answers. Ask closed questions for the following purposes:

• To focus the response. “Is the project on schedule?”
• To confirm what the other person has said. “So your main issue is scheduling your time?”

Thoughtful questioning can help you uncover the other person’s views and deeper thoughts on the problem, which will help you formulate an effective response.

Stick to facts, not opinion

Move on to sharing your point of view, but focus on observed behaviors, not assumptions about character traits, attitudes, or personality. A specific comment that relates to the job—for example, “I’ve noticed that you haven’t offered any suggestions at our last few brainstorming sessions”—opens the door for your employee to explain why. But an opinion-based statement, more often than not, can shut down the conversation entirely.

For example, an opinion-based statement like “You just don’t seem engaged with your work” paints the person into a corner and invites a defensive, opinion-based reply: “You’re wrong. I am engaged.” This isn’t productive for either of you. Statements about assumed motivations can quickly lead to your employee becoming guarded, which will make it nearly impossible to persuade them to change. To make any progress, you need your employee to be a receptive, active participant in this discussion.

Instead, offer a specific observation that’s free of personal judgment. To Deepa, for instance, you might say, “I noticed that you looked down at the AV equipment a lot during the orientation session and missed opportunities to see when someone had a question.” This is an observation you viewed that Deepa can then respond to, rather than feeling like she needs to defend herself.

Be specific about the problem and its impact on others

Your employee may not be fully aware of the consequences of their behavior, so lay it out clearly. For example, “Deepa, because you were looking down during most of your presentation, our new hires were unable to ask the questions they had and were unsure of some of the policies you presented. I heard some frustration from the group afterward, and they may be unclear as to how to proceed when issues arise in the coming weeks.” The details demonstrate that this is a real problem, not a matter of your preference, and that it impacts not only you but others as well.

Managers sometimes mistakenly think they need to act tough when giving constructive feedback. But the aim of feedback should be to motivate change, not to make your employee feel attacked. When people feel threatened, they’re unlikely to really hear what you’re saying, let alone absorb or apply it. Take a thoughtful, nonaggressive approach to allow the receiver to take in, reflect on, and learn from your feedback. “Deepa, let’s discuss how you might modify the planning process for the next orientation session. I know this last one didn’t go well, but I’m confident you can improve for next time.”

It can be tempting to couch constructive feedback in praise, in an attempt to soften the blow. Sweetening your message may lessen your own anxiety about delivering bad news, but it also diminishes your employees’ ability to receive it. This “sandwich” approach actually undermines your ability to communicate any meaningful feedback, either positive or constructive. Employees who are struggling may lose track of where they need to change, registering only the compliment—and high achievers may dismiss positive feedback as a mere preamble to the “real” message.

Ask how your employee can address the problem

People generally feel more ownership of solutions they suggest themselves, but if your direct report has trouble coming up with a reasonable suggestion for change, offer one yourself and check for understanding. It’s important that the employee leave the conversation with a concrete step for improvement. For example, “In the future, let’s arrange for you to organize practice sessions in advance of orientation meetings, so you can rehearse what you plan to say, get used to the equipment, and hear some of the questions our new hires are likely to ask.” Then, check for the receiver’s understanding of your suggestion: “Does this sound feasible to you?” If they seem iffy or unclear on the plan for improvement, ask them to explain it in their own words so you can assess if they’ve truly grasped it. If your direct report can clearly explain what they should change or do next, you’ve curtailed the need to deliver the same feedback again—and if the message is muddled, you can clarify it on the spot.

In some instances, you may discover that a onetime feedback discussion isn’t enough to close a performance gap. In those situations, you may need to consider coaching your employee, which is the topic of the next chapter.

NOTE

1. Quoted in Amy Gallo, “Giving a High Performer Productive Feedback,” HBR.org, December 3, 2009, https://hbr.org/2009/12/giving-a-high-performer-produc.