Feedbacks- How To Give And Take Them At Your Workplace?

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“Feedback” is generally an “opinion” about a person, a group or a process, people are directly or indirectly related with. It can be given as a balanced advice based on facts or one’s own view point based on limited or incomplete information. 

Be very careful while sharing the feedback specially feedback regarding your superiors, as nobody likes to hear negative comments about themselves, irrespective of how constructive these may be. And it can return back to you any day. Feedback is one of the “ideal” noble ideas that companies want to put to use, and they are sincere in instituting these as well. However, one cannot control the infusion of personalities into these. The feedback and the performance evaluation are tools created for good reasons and to achieve good results, but are rarely able to live up to their “ideal” objectives. At times it is the other way round, so it is really necessary to take feedbacks in the right spirit.

Some Tips for sharing feedback

  • Be specific, objective and timely.
  • Use active listening to gauge not only what is said but what is NOT said after you have delivered the feedback.
  • Praise in public, punish in private.
  • Feedback is positive and negative. It requires more consideration for negative feedback
  • Dosage is important, not too much not too less. Be precise and concise
  • Avoid confrontation (be prepared with facts and figures)
  • Do not use absolute terms, don’t be judgemental, do not go with preconceived mindset
  • Don’t bring up personal issues
  • Try to share negative feedback in private
  • Use encouraging language
  • Be very careful with the words you are using
  • When other person realize his mistake, appreciate him
  • Always do effort to close the discussion on positive note
  • Show them the benefit of change you want them to have and loss to them if they don’t change.
  • Show them the positive picture.
  • The person should walk away with positive note, Don’t be sarcastic, it brings resentment
  • Give feedback when person is in receptive mode

Feedback is more about behaviour: you either want to see more of a particular behaviour or you want to see less. I use the terms “reinforcing feedback” for the former and “redirecting feedback” for the latter. Empty comments like “great presentation!” are not feedback. That’s just noise. Reinforcing feedback should be as specific as redirecting feedback.

When it comes to providing or sharing the feedback-

  • Give feedback like a coach with a caring attitude
  • After a heavy session take the person for coffee, make him feel good and generate the energy to change, be the person to greet next day
  • Build the attitude to correct than to punish, criticize the behavior not the person
  • Do not interrupt or change the subject, stick to the topic.

Feedbacks must be tackled wisely, with wise judgement, rational understanding, and rationale behaviour. If you feel the source of feedbacks is genuine then ask for more views and suggestions, give the other person the chance to explain, bring fairness in the process. Prepare well for the feedback sessions, plan your time well, remember you are dealing with human asset, show full attention during the session, and ask questions, to avoid any doubt or confusion. In the end use your own discretion to decide which ones to consider and which ones to drop.
 

About Aditi Malhotra

Aditi Malhotra is the Content Marketing Manager at Whizlabs. Having a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, she helps businesses stop playing around with Content Marketing and start seeing tangible ROI. A writer by day and a reader by night, she is a fine blend of both reality and fantasy. Apart from her professional commitments, she is also endearing to publish a book authored by her very soon.

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