Preparing to Give Feedback

It is important to be aware of these common mistakes when forming opinions or ratings of others and question your own judgements. Have you allowed any of these factors to influence your opinions?

Stereotyping

While people are generally aware of the existence of stereotypes and the need to avoid them, they can still affect performance ratings, because they are not always conscious. To one extent or another, everyone forms stereotypes about groups or people of similar characteristics, which allow us to make quick decisions or judgements.

“The mind typically activates stereotypes automatically. They are elusive in that they are sometimes hard to identify and even more difficult to influence or change.” [3]

Again, being aware of this phenomenon can be a big step towards counteracting it. It is important to take responsibility for not allowing stereotypes to affect your judgment of a person’s performance. Can you justify your opinions with evidence? If you had to defend your assessment to your boss, would you be able to do so?

One good way to combat unconscious stereotyping and common rating errors is to challenge yourself to find evidence which disproves your assessment. If the feedback you have collated stands up, it should, hopefully, be sound.

Training

It is possible to improve your observation skills with training and practice. If you are not confident or feel that your own assessment abilities could be improved, consider asking your boss, HR or L&D department for advice or training.

Ask Yourself: Is Feedback Really Necessary?

If you are considering giving constructive feedback to an employee, it is important to put the behavior into context. Is it definitely something which needs to be addressed, for the benefit of the individual, team or organization?

If, for example, a person is an excellent performer in most aspects of their job, but has a small habit which you feel could be improved, think about whether bringing up the issue may cause more harm than good. If they have a particular way of doing something which is not, in your opinion, the most efficient or the fastest, but they produce excellent work by using it, is it really worth asking them to change?

Equally, try to think about the issue objectively. Is it definitely something that needs to be addressed or is it just something that you, personally, dislike? If the latter, consider whether there is more to be gained from not rocking the boat than perhaps upsetting an otherwise good team member.

If an employee is engaged in a mentally demanding task, whether it is complex or simply unfamiliar, giving constructive feedback can be detrimental to their performance. [4] This is because they stop focusing on the task itself and become more concerned with protecting their own image. In this situation, it may be better to simply withhold your feedback until after the job is finished and consider it as advice for ‘next time’. If, however, you feel it is absolutely necessary to the success of the task to provide the feedback immediately, make particularly sure to set goals alongside the feedback. Shifting the concentration on to goal achievement helps counteract the otherwise instinctive protection of their self-image and keeps them focused on the task.

Plan Your Delivery

Thinking through the feedback you are going to give and how you will deliver it in advance will help ensure the process goes smoothly. In particular, think about the following things:

Target

What are you hoping to achieve? If you’re trying to encourage someone to change their behavior, be aware of exactly what your goal is. Some things are much easier for a person to change than others. According to the book Giving Feedback, they rank as follows, from easy to difficult: [5]

1. job skills
2. time and work management
3. knowledge
4. attitude
5. habits
6. personality characteristics

So helping someone improve a job skill or their time management is likely to be more fruitful than asking them to change an aspect of their personality or a troublesome habit. Focus on the practical.

Timing

Generally speaking, giving feedback about a specific event is advised as soon as possible after the event, while it is still fresh in everyone’s mind. This applies to both praise and constructive feedback. However, in a situation where emotions have run high, it may be best to leave some time for everyone to calm down. A cool head will be more receptive and less defensive. As general advice, it is worth avoiding giving feedback on a Friday afternoon, because this leaves the employee with the entire weekend to muse on the conversation without the option to come back and address any concerns or ask for clarification.

Place

Think about the physical setting. Is it somewhere comfortable, where you won’t be disturbed or distracted (by ringing phones, for example)? Equally, be aware of not creating barriers between you and your team member/colleague. Try not to sit across a desk from the other person (this can add an air of formality that may not be helpful); where practical, sit alongside them.

Person

The feedback you are going to be giving is for the benefit of the recipient, not you, so tailor your feedback for them. Think about their personality, intelligence, capabilities etc. and make sure you are delivering the message in a way they can understand and to which they can relate. Try to put yourself in their position and think from their perspective. For example, if they are not very communicative, ask open-ended questions that will encourage them to say more than just yes or no. If you know them to be low in self-esteem, they are more likely to be emotionally reactive and sensitive, so tread carefully. On the other hand, if you know them to be more self-assured, you may be able to be a little more direct with your comments.

One important factor to consider in this regard is the person’s level of expertise in the area you wish to discuss. A 2011 report into the effect of expertise on effective feedback found that as people’s level of skill increased, their desire for negative feedback also increased, motivating them to improve. Conversely, novices seek and are motivated by positive feedback as they begin to learn a new skill. Importantly, this is based on their own assessment of their level of expertise, rather than any external measure.

“For instance, a beginning piano player is less likely to play a piece of music perfectly; she is likely to make many mistakes. For this player, who rarely plays the right note at the right time, hearing that she played a series of notes correctly is more informative than comments on a series of correct notes would be for a professional piano player who already knows he plays most of the notes correctly. On the other hand, a professional piano player is unlikely to miss notes. Hearing that he missed some notes is rare and carries more value than hearing of missed notes would carry for a novice.” [6]

In short, novices are more motivated by positive feedback, while experts find negative comments more valuable.

Language

Think carefully about how you will phrase your comments and avoid negative language, which can unconsciously program team members to expect failure. Saying things like “You’ll find this difficult” or “You’ll get nowhere by doing it this way” can have a deflating effect. Focusing on positive outcomes and using language that reflects this can help create a mindset for success.

Body Language

As well as thinking about where you sit in relation to the other person, think about your overall manner. It is important to be focused entirely on the conversation and to be receptive, so try to avoid closed body language, like crossed arms and legs. Try hard to avoid things like yawning, fidgeting or looking out the window and especially answering a phone during the conversation – these are all signs of being disinterested or that you do not consider the meeting to be important.

Be Prepared

Make notes in advance which help you stick to the information you need to convey and keep your objectives firmly in sight, especially if the discussion becomes heated or emotional. If this does happen, it is vital that you remain calm and are not flustered, so think through how you will address this if necessary. Also be prepared for unexpected turns – for example, there may be relevant information of which you are not aware. Perhaps there are circumstances affecting the team member’s performance which need to be addressed in order for them to improve. Be prepared to be flexible in order to accommodate this possibility. In short, be focused but open-minded.

Summary

Giving feedback is an important part of a manager's or leader’s job but it does not come naturally to everyone. Carefully making your assessments, planning in advance, thinking through exactly how you will approach the conversation and what your objectives are, and being open-minded to the person’s responses can make the experience easier and more productive for everyone. The attached worksheet, Planning a Feedback Session, should help with this process.