In the last blog, we discussed how facilitating good feedback should be a priority for leaders. It’s critical for improving the performance of your team. But what is best practice when it comes to delivering that feedback? To be truly effective, feedback needs to fulfil these criteria:

• Timely

If you had to pick one vital component to make feedback effective, it’s timing. Feedback conversations – whether positive or negative in nature – are most effective when they’re held as soon as possible after the event. Relevance wanes after a while – if you delay the feedback, people may not know why you are giving the feedback, or even remember the situation you’re discussing at all.

• Balanced

Balancing the positive and negative in your feedback is something that’s worth making the effort over – particularly if you do need to share something about a team member’s performance that is less than glowing. Managers are often quick to notice things that might be wrong, but often we need to make more of an effort to highlight things that have gone well. Get in the habit of providing regular positive feedback to your people, and not just as a softener when you have more negative or constructive things to discuss.

• Specific

Keeping your language specific and observational will support the most effective outcome for your feedback. Being factual keeps the tone from being judgemental. There’s a world of difference between saying, ‘You weren’t paying attention in that meeting,’ and, ‘I noticed you looking out of the window – is everything okay?’ Stating the specific facts of what you witnessed, rather than delivering judgement of the behaviour, means that defences will not immediately be drawn up by the person receiving the feedback – and you might get to the real issue a lot more quickly, with less confrontation.

In the case of positive feedback, using specific observation can work just as well, teasing out meaningful detail. Generic feedback such as, ‘Well done, thanks for helping that person,’ can be made more useful by highlighting the details of the result of the helpful behaviour – for example, ‘I noticed you took the time to show that person the process. That will mean fewer mistakes in future. Thank you,’.

• Regular

Get into the habit of giving positive, specific feedback on a regular basis. The more you do it, the more your team will have the opportunity to hear something relevant and encouraging about themselves. This helps build a culture of genuine positivity which will make the more directive feedback – where you need to correct something with your team – so much easier for them to handle.

• Fair and consistent

Some leaders may shy away from delivering the more difficult feedback to certain team members – whether it be for fear of upsetting them, or because a confrontation may ensue if they react badly. This is understandable, but it isn’t fair, either on the individual in question, or indeed, other team members. All of your team ought to have the opportunity to receive feedback, even if it’s not always entirely positive. Showing a scrupulously even hand when it comes to giving feedback means that your team will always trust the integrity of your communication.

• Conversational

Whether you’re trying to encourage someone to keep up the good work, or adjusting something they’re doing, it’s constructive to think of feedback as a two-way concept.  Both parties need to be able to contribute to the conversation; both sides need to be able to voice their views on the way forward and be able to contribute solutions to any issues raised. Effective feedback is always a dialogue, not a monologue.

A useful model of feedback is BIFF – behaviour, impact, feelings, and future

Behaviour

Describe what you actually saw first-hand; passing on third party feedback is not helpful.

Impact

From your perspective, what are the consequences of the observed action or behaviour? Remember to consider not only the impact on you and the organisation, but other members of the team as well as the individual themselves.

Feelings

How would you and others feel about this action? Those feelings must be linked to the impact of that behaviour.

Future

What can the individual do in the future – what behaviour do they need to adopt, adapt, continue, or cease? What needs to be actioned in order to improve or maintain things in the future?

Cube Learning and Development delivers bespoke, personal coaching programmes to support you in achieving effective performance management with your team.  For a no-obligation chat about this and our other training, call Chris Burton on 07879 602002.