5 Tips on How To Give Feedback and Constructive Criticism
As a manager or leader of a team, you’re going to be providing feedback to your team members on their performance. This feedback may be given in an official performance review and more likely - and hopefully more frequently - in real-time. Here are five quick tips to keep in mind to make delivering feedback and constructive criticism effective:
Don’t avoid it, it’s part of your job. Recognize that as a manager and leader providing feedback is hugely important. People can be hesitant to deliver constructive criticism to team members because they think it can be uncomfortable, but it's actually unfair not to. Perhaps someone isn’t aware a change needs to be made. It would be unfair not to bring this to their attention before taking any action against them. Maybe they are aware they need to improve but are having trouble figuring out how to course correct. Having a conversation with them about it, may be helpful and just what they need to get things back on track. You can also think about it in the opposite direction - if someone was working very hard, going above and beyond, and doing an exceptional job, would it be fair to not tell them?
Assess the situation. How you deliver feedback depends on the surrounding circumstances. This is a time when "situational leadership" comes into play. Here are three common factors to consider: Is there a gap in perception between how you think they're doing and how they think they're doing, how severe is the issue, and is the person trying to improve. There are many permutations that can come out of this - Person A may think they are a star-performer, have just made a potentially fireable offense, and are intentionally trying to make things difficult; Person B may know their performance needs to improve, have just made a minor slip-up, and have been working diligently to try and bring up their performance for weeks. You’ll likely need to be more heavy-handed with Person A and want to be more easy-going with Person B.
Consider the individual. How you deliver feedback depends on the person receiving it. Your job in the conversation is to make the information "land" most effectively with the person you’re speaking with. Take note of what you know about this person and how they like information to be communicated. For example, does this person prefer direct and to the point feedback or is a more nuanced approach going to work best.
Pick the best time. All things being equal, deliver constructive criticism as soon as possible. For example, don't wait until a performance review in six months to let someone know a misstep was made yesterday. Rather, tell the person as close to the event as possible. One caveat is if you’re too emotional to deliver effective feedback - take the time to collect your thoughts. For example, if you're hot with anger and may say something inappropriate or just be unhelpful to the situation, take yourself out of it.
Provide clarity and give them actionable next step. Managers can be afraid of saying something negative to someone so they beat around the bush and talk in generalities - this often leaves the person more confused. Make sure you are being clear on what the issue is (and when in doubt air on the side of over communicating). Another vital component of delivering constructive criticism is making sure you give the recipient something to action. For example, saying something like, “Stop being so lazy and stupid!” is not very actionable. It lacks specificity. Whereas, saying, “I asked for 20 copies this morning. You gave me 5. I still need 15. Can you please make the 15 additional copies and get them to be by the end of day?” is actionable. It’s something they can go do.
For more tips like these sign up for my newsletter.
About The Author
Emily Sander is an ICF-certified leadership coach with more than 15 years of experience in the business world and the author of Hacking Executive Leadership. She’s been featured in several print publications, online articles, and podcasts, including CEO Today Magazine, Leading to Fulfillment, and Leadership Powered by Common Sense.
Emily has a passion for helping business leaders reach their full potential. Go here to read her story from seasoned executive to knowledgeable coach. If you want to send Emily a quick message, then visit her contact page here.