Do you truly care
about your employees? Do you really want them to improve? If yes, prove it by
giving them feedback.
Yet feedback is not
just for managers to give employees. Employees also give mangers feedback, and
feedback can happen between peers.
Today I am focusing on
the manager to employee feedback. And here’s why: Feedback is extremely
important in an employee/manager relationship. Just take a look at these
statistics*:
1. Companies that intentionally give feedback
have 14.9% lower turnover rates
2. 40% of workers are disengaged when they get
little or no feedback
3. Positive or negative, 82% of employees
appreciate receiving feedback
4. Of highly engaged employees, 43% receive
feedback at least once a week
5. 65% of employees say they want more feedback
6. 27% of workers say the feedback they get
improves their performance
7. 42% of Millennials want feedback every week,
yet 83% of Millennials say their manager’s feedback isn’t meaningful
8. 92% of people think negative feedback is
effective at improving performance
As you can see,
feedback improves performance, lowers turnover, and perhaps most surprising
employees want it! Yet giving feedback can make managers uncomfortable. What do
you say? How do you say it?
I’ve got you covered
with this step-by-step guide to giving effective feedback, developed by Shari
Harley.
Let’s take a look at
Harley’s guide and then run through an example scenario.
Eight Easy Steps For Giving Feedback
1. Introduce the conversation so feedback recipients know what to expect.
2. Empathize so both the feedback provider and the
recipient feel as comfortable as possible.
3. Describe the observed behavior so the recipient can picture a specific recent
example of what you’re referring to. The more specific you are, the less
defensive he will be, and the more likely he’ll be able to hear you and take
corrective action.
4. Sharing the impact or result describes the consequences of the behavior.
It’s what happened as a result of the person’s actions.
5. Having some dialogue gives both people a chance to speak and
ensures that the conversation is not one-sided. Many feedback conversations are
not conversations at all; they’re monologues. One person talks and the other
person pretends to listen, while thinking what an idiot you are. Good feedback
conversations are dialogues during which the recipient can ask questions, share
his point of view, and explore next steps.
6. Make a suggestion or request so the recipient has another way to approach
the situation or task in the future. Most feedback conversations tell the
person what he did wrong and the impact of the behavior; only rarely do they
offer an alternative. Give people the benefit of the doubt. If people knew a
better way to do something, they would do it another way.
7. Building an agreement on next steps ensures there is a plan for what the person
will do going forward. Too many feedback conversations do not result in
behavior change. Agreeing on next steps creates accountability.
8. Say “Thank you” to create closure and to express appreciation
for the recipient’s willingness to have a difficult conversation.
Seems straightforward
enough, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, reading a handy guide and actually talking
to a person have different levels of complexity. Each employee/manager relationship
is unique, and the characteristics of that relationship will paint every
conversation. However, following the guide will help the conversation stay
focused, organized and neutral. Let’s take a look at an example.
Play-By-Play Example of Giving Feedback
Pierre is a remote
worker who lives in a different time zone than the corporate office. While he
delivers excellent work on his projects, he often won’t update his team on his
progress, leaving them with an entire workday without knowing where they stand on
the project timeline.
Despite being asked by
the project manager multiple times to send a quick status email at the end of
his workday, Pierre doesn’t remember. Sometimes he has to be emailed three
times before his status is communicated. This causes stress for the team and
holds back progress while the project manager waits for his update in order to
inform the team on next steps.
It’s time for Pierre’s
manager to intervene and try to improve the situation. In other words, it’s
time for feedback. Let’s take a look at how to provide Pierre feedback based on
the eight steps detailed above.
1. INTRODUCE THE CONVERSATION
First, Pierre’s
manager should arrange a time to have a conversation. This conversation request
can be made via email, phone call, or chat, depending on the usual mode of
communication in this employee dynamic. His manager should let him know that
she wants to discuss making the team function better, and how he can aid that
effort.
2. EMPATHIZE
Pierre’s manager
should communicate empathetically about his situation. In this case, she would
say something like, “I’m sure it’s difficult to work in a time zone that isn’t
aligned with the majority of the team, and that the inevitable early mornings
and late nights must be tiring. Plus, I understand that not having your team
around you in person can make quick and efficient communication challenging.”
3. DESCRIBE THE OBSERVED BEHAVIOR
Now it’s time for
Pierre’s manager to be specific. She may say, “Last week DeAndré requested an
update before you ended your workday so that the team would know if you were
able to fix the reported bugs in the new website functionality. He needed to
know because he had a call with the client early the next morning and had to
provide a project update and discuss allocating resources for the next work
cycle. However, the update wasn’t provided.”
4. SHARE IMPACT OR RESULT
Pierre’s manager would
now go on to explain specifically the impact this particular behavior has on
the project and the team at large. For example, “Because DeAndré didn’t receive
your update, he had to cancel the client meeting with very little notice. Now
the client is losing trust in the team, and we may not get future work from
them. If we don’t get future work from this client, which is quite large, we won’t
be able to meet our goals, and will have to scale back the team.”
5. HAVE SOME DIALOGUE
Now is Pierre’s chance
to talk. Yet he might not feel that he can, if he feels he is in trouble and is
retreating. That means his manager needs to create an open environment for
Pierre to share his perspective. She can do this by asking open-ended
questions and truly listening. For example, “What gets in your way of
giving a status update at the end of your day?” or “How can I support you as
you keep the team informed?” or “How do you feel about the project, in
general?”
6. MAKE A SUGGESTION OR REQUEST
A skilled manager will
be able to provide their employee with an actionable plan. Perhaps Pierre’s
manager can suggest he set a reminder alarm for the end of his workday alerting
him to the fact that he needs to send an update. Depending on the situation,
the manager and employee can be creative when developing a solution.
7. BUILD AN AGREEMENT ON NEXT STEPS
After making some
suggestions, Pierre’s they should settle on one plan of action that they both
agree to. They should also set a meeting in a few weeks or a month to follow up
on his progress for status updates.
8. SAY THANK YOU!
No matter how well the
conversation goes, it’s important to acknowledge your employee’s willingness to
have the conversation. For example, “I know your day is already full, so I
really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today.”
These eight steps
should set you up for a positive and productive relationship with your team
members. And don’t forget, feedback isn’t always negative. Make a point to give
positive feedback—and when you do, be specific!
Do you have any tips
for giving feedback? I’d love to hear. Let’s share experiences.
Let’s share
experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.
