Taking the pain out of feedback

Feedback isn’t just telling someone how they could do better at their work, it’s also that screeching sound that happens when the microphone is too close to the speaker it’s plugged into. It can be hard to tell which is more painful!

No one likes conflict and no one likes hearing that they haven’t done a good job. It might not be surprising that most leaders we work with don’t feel comfortable with giving feedback, despite it being one of the most important tools that they have in guiding the behaviour of their team.

Despite its challenges, feedback is the only way that our team know what we think of their work. This could be in a formal review, or a passing comment. So let’s run though some great ideas you can use to make sure your feedback is more resonant and impactful, and leads to the change you want to see.

THE FOUR STEPS OF DELIVERING GREAT FEEDBACK

1. Situation

   Describe the situation as specifically and neutrally as possible . “this was last week when we had that client meeting. The client asked you about pricing”

2. Behaviour

   Describe the behaviour of the person. Behaviour is only something that can be caught on a video camera. For example, being irritated or angry isn’t behaviour, but “you clenched your fists and communicated in short sharp statements with a lot of rude language” is an example of behaviour

3. Impact

   Describe the impact of that behaviour without inflating or deflating it. “the client told me she was upset by the behaviour, and won’t be buying from us again. This is a loss of $200 per week of revenue”

4. Desired outcome

   Describe how they could adjust their behaviour to have a different impact. “Next time this situation occurs, taking a few seconds to centre yourself and check your body language.”

DO’S AND DON’TS

Do

• Create a culture of feedback that isn’t just negative. Use the SBID framework to identify behaviours that led to awesome outcomes. This helps breakdown some of the initial resistance to a feedback conversation.

• Praise and recognise when others give feedback constructively. Creating a feedback rich environment means that not all feedback needs to come from you

         

Don’t

• Use terms like never and always - Provide specific feedback on specific behaviour

• Wait too long. Good feedback is timely, where the situation is fresh in everyone’s mind, and there’s an opportunity for the feedback to be received before any other negative impacts occur