How difficult is it for you to provide meaningful feedback to your employees? The experience can be awkward and anxiety-provoking, so maybe you delay it or avoid it entirely?
Let’s start with defining feedback. Feedback is a generic term for information about a previous action that is sent back to the source. There are two types of feedback that you can give to your employees.
Guidance and praise
The first is guidance, which is any helpful conversation that is related to improving an employee’s performance or behavior. The second is praise, which is any information that emphasizes and reinforces a specific, valuable result or behavior.
Employees can’t improve without being made aware of their mistakes, so they require your guidance. Guidance is not the same thing as criticism. Criticism includes any hurtful comment, personal attack or other verbal abuse. Criticism attacks the character of its target and typically starts with “you.”
An example is, “You never listen to anyone. You are so hard-headed and obnoxious.” Criticism accuses its target of having a deficient or defective character. It humiliates and usually provokes a strong defensive reaction. There is no such thing as “constructive criticism.” Never criticize!
Both guidance and praise are necessary and good. Provide both of these often and consistently!
Ten tips to the top
Here are some guidelines to ensure that your feedback generates your desired results:
- Give five times as much praise as guidance. Research shows that this is the “magic ratio” for the brain to compensate for its innate focus on the negative.
- Be specific. Focus on one to two behaviors on which the employee should focus.
- Praise in public and give guidance in private. Respect and preserve your employees’ dignity.
- Ask for permission. Asking, “Are you open for some feedback today?” emotionally and mentally prepares the employee for what they are about to hear.
- Address the behavior, not the person. Remember the difference between guidance and criticism.
- Give praise and guidance consistently. This is a continuous process, not a one time or infrequent event.
- Be timely. Provide feedback as close to the employee’s action as possible.
- Prepare. Be clear about what you want to say.
- Use “and,” not “but.” “But” negates any positivity that you generated.
- Praise corrected behavior. Immediately praise corrections in behavior and performance.
How you give feedback not only affects the mood and performance of your employees, it impacts your culture. When employees receive no feedback, it can become complacent at best, and, at worst, toxic. Giving feedback in the wrong way can be just as damaging since employees who are criticized by their bosses intentionally lower their productivity.
Giving meaningful praise and guidance doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Like any other valuable skill, it requires practice and discipline. The good news is that it works equally well at home and at work, and if you do it, you will see rewarding results at both.
