You know that awkward situation when you’re talking to someone with a chunk of spinach caught in their teeth? You’d rather avoid the embarrassment of letting them know, even if it’s only short-lived. But if you don’t tell them, you can’t focus on anything else but the damn spinach, and you don’t hear a single word they say.
As a leader, dodging the opportunity to give feedback has exactly the same result. Sure, you’ve skipped an uncomfortable moment or a potentially difficult conversation. Meanwhile, your team member is happily oblivious but totally ineffective.
Why Feedback Is Crucial To Your Organization’s Success
Even the best teams can improve, but you can’t tackle problems if you don’t know they exist. If you shy away from pointing out areas where there’s room for growth, you’re not giving people the opportunity to do their best work.
Without feedback, minor issues can quickly become big problems. Your overall performance will hit a plateau and that’s incredibly frustrating for both you and your team members.
Read more about the benefits of feedback in this article!
How To Create A System For Feedback
So many leaders dread giving feedback, and that’s understandable; it can be tricky to get right. But working opportunities for evaluation into your company culture means normalizing and systemizing it. So to help you do that, we’ve broken down the process of creating a framework for feedback into three simple steps for you to follow.
1. Shift Your Mindset
We can end up conditioned to think that “feedback” always means something negative, and that’s not the case. It’s just as important (maybe even more so) to recognize achievement and celebrate success as it is to tackle the weaker spots. And for those times when it’s necessary to highlight something that’s not going so well, the key is in changing how you think about feedback.
So many leaders don’t give feedback because they are afraid of being uncomfortable or making others feel that way. Flip your perspective and consider that most of the time, everyone wants to do their best, feel valued, and know they made a contribution to what matters most.
And if you think your people don’t care, let go of that belief immediately. As a leader, it’s your job to invite them into caring. It’s essential to pay attention to what your team is doing and share how they can improve. Get comfortable with giving praise when it’s deserved or criticism as needed; but always make it constructive criticism, not just pointing out faults or mistakes. (More on that below.)
“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.”
— Carol Dweck
2. Create a Format
Evaluating a situation, event or someone’s performance is so much easier when you follow the same set of steps each time. Here’s a simple format for giving feedback:
- Set a time in advance.
- State the purpose. What are you talking about, and why is it important?
- Describe what you have observed and your reaction.
- Give the individual an opportunity to respond.
- Co-create specific suggestions or solutions.
- Summarize everything you’ve discussed and clarify the actions to take moving forward.
Remember, it’s important to focus on the performance – not the person.
For example, instead of saying:
“You’re too slow.”
Try:
“Our target is to respond to all support tickets marked urgent within 15 minutes. Please prioritize those above your other tasks.”
Feedback should set people up for success, not bring them down, so always make sure to reaffirm your faith in their abilities to do a good job.
For advice on understanding the different behavioral styles that will help you tailor and deliver more effective feedback, check out our article on the topic here.
3. Make Feedback The Rule, Not The Exception
Giving and receiving feedback becomes easier if it’s part of a routine. Set aside time in meetings for people to bring up what’s not working on a macro level with the group. This makes evaluations normal, expected, and gives you the space to address problems without having to confront people with them. It also gives your team members the opportunity to become participants in the solution.
Collaborate to come up with specific suggestions and solutions for improvement and set a timeline to check-in again to see how things are going. Without a follow-up process in place, there’s a risk you’ll end up back to square one with the problems you’ve identified.
And don’t forget, feedback needs to be a two-way street. Want to know how you’re doing as a leader or how you could improve things? ASK! Your team is the number one place to go when you’re looking to develop and self-check yourself. Cultivate trust with your team so they know it’s okay to share ideas and constructive criticism. Let them know their feedback actually matters.
Feedback Is An Opportunity For Growth
Take the fear out of feedback in your organization by building it into a simple system and process. This will help everyone on the team see feedback as a growth opportunity rather than a criticism or tear down. And a company with a solid feedback culture is one that’s perfectly positioned for growth, agility and long-term impact.
Your Next Steps
Facilitating the flow of feedback in your company is just one of the key pillars covered in our Team Action Plan – a complete guide to help you build a high-performing, self managed work environment where every team member takes ownership of their own success.
To download your copy, click here and take your first steps on the road to transforming your business.
