Master the art of giving feedback to your team

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”– Bill Gates

All throughout our academic and professional life the one thing that helps us constantly grow and excel is getting timely feedback. Now, most people may have received feedback that they feel demotivates them, however, the most dangerous aspect of getting no feedback at all. In a work environment, it is very critical to ensure that the feedback that is given is always positive or constructive in nature, but is never negative.

In this blog, we will explore the tips that you should include to master the art of giving feedback.

• Identify the reason for providing feedback: While giving feedback is essential, it is important to highlight and identify the reason why it is being given. Also, it is crucial to give feedback at the time when it will be the most effective. It makes no sense giving feedback on something that happened over a month back. Timing and effect are of the essence when giving feedback.
• Keep aside all personal biases: It is human nature to have certain favorites in any team, and at times this favoritism clouds our judgment. When you are giving your team member one on one feedback it is absolutely critical that you keep aside all your biases and give feedback solely based on their performance and merit.
• Ensure it is a two-way conversation: More than often, most managers make the mistake of considering feedback sessions as a one-way communication channel. This is the biggest blunder to make. It is a given that when feedback sessions are arranged when you are pointing out certain flaws in an employee, they too could have some things to point out. Make sure you are a good listener when giving feedback and keep the channel open both ways.
• Avoid making it too personal: The most challenging line to maintain is to keep personal and professional separate while giving feedback. It is only human to allow your personal biases get the best of you when giving professional feedback. However, ensure that when you do so you concentrate only on the official traits and performance and leave aside the personal concerns.
• Offer a constructive way of working on the weakness if any: No team member is perfect and as working employees, we always have certain points that we can work on to improve. When you are highlighting any point that is a weakness make sure that along with the weakness you also tell them how to go about making it their strength. Leaving it with just negative feedback will do no one any good and will leave the employee dejected and demotivated.
• Highlight all the positives as well: It is clearly very easy to ignore all the good and focus on the negatives. Most of the time, managers end up highlighting all the concerns and weaknesses and fail to recognize the good that the team member has done. It is imperative that you keep the feedback a mix of positive and constructive.
• Ensure there is a follow-up: A feedback channel is incomplete if there is no follow up taken. It is a given that while giving constructive feedback as points of improvement, you may have given the employee certain points to work on. Make it your duty to go back and follow up to see if the same has been followed. If the last step is not taken into consideration, then the feedback will be considered incomplete.

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