Mastering the Art of Giving Constructive Feedback 🤝
Dear HR Leaders, Here’s How You Deliver Meaningful Feedback. BONUS: Fun Trivia at the End 🧠
When we think of feedback within the workplace, the image that often comes to mind is the long, dreary performance review meeting — a scene that's far from exciting or uplifting.
Let's face it: Feedback giving has a bad rep. It's awkward, challenging, and can leave both you and your employees feeling tense.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
True growth and development come from a culture of ongoing feedback, where constructive conversations happen organically, not just during formal evaluations.
In this edition of Hired, we explore how to give feedback the right way.
Inside the Newsletter 👀
✨Guide to Giving Constructive Feedback
💡The Dos and Don'ts of Effective Feedback Delivery
📋 Feedback Templates with Common HR Scenarios
🧠 HR Trivia
But first, let’s talk about the times when giving feedback might not be such a good idea:
When You Shouldn’t Give Feedback
Do not give feedback in the following situations:
Personal Preference: When your feedback is more about your own preference or style rather than the quality of the person's work product or approach.
Limited Information: When you lack a full understanding of the situation.
Circle of Influence: When the problem is beyond the recipient's control.
Emotional Situations: When the situation appears to be dominated by emotions, making it difficult to provide constructive feedback.
Absence of Solutions: When you do not have any solutions or alternatives to address the issues raised.
Before we dive into the ways you should give feedback, let’s talk about the qualities your employee feedback should have.
Your feedback should be:
Timely: Feedback should be provided promptly to be effective.
Insightful: Feedback should offer valuable insights and observations that help employees gain a deeper understanding of their performance and areas for growth.
Constructive: Feedback should focus on constructive criticism rather than solely pointing out flaws. It should be delivered with the best of intentions and emphasize on ways to improve rather than dwelling on mistakes.
Collaborative: Feedback should be delivered in a collaborative manner, encouraging open communication and fostering a supportive environment.
Actionable: Feedback should include actionable steps and recommendations for improvement.
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How to Give Constructive Feedback
Giving meaningful constructive feedback is not only important for employees’ growth and development, it also helps them understand the bigger picture and their impact.
Meaningful feedback fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement, benefiting both you and the employee.
Here’s how you can do it:
1: Show that You Genuinely Care
When offering feedback, it's essential to approach the conversation with kindness and empathy.
It should be very clear to the employee that you are giving this feedback to them to help them grow. You have to let them know that you are on their side.
Former Apple and Google executive Kim Scott coined the term "Radical Candor" to describe a feedback approach that combines caring personally with challenging directly.
This means providing feedback with empathy and kindness while also being honest and straightforward about areas for improvement.
❌ Bad: "You're always late to meetings. It's unacceptable and needs to stop immediately."
✅ Good: "I've noticed that you've been arriving late to our meetings lately. I understand that things can get busy, but punctuality is important for team collaboration. Is there anything I can do to support you in being on time?"
2: Be Specific
Your feedback should be precise, crystal clear, and to the point.
Be very specific about what exactly you would want the employee to do and offer guidance on how they can apply the feedback.
❌ Bad: "Your presentation skills need improvement."
✅ Good: "During your last presentation, your voice sounded monotone, and you didn't make much eye contact with the audience. To improve, try varying your tone and making more eye contact to engage your audience effectively."
Check out 5 Feedback Templates for common HR scenarios,
3: Focus on Performance, Not Personality
When giving feedback, concentrate on an employee's behaviors, focusing on what they do rather than on their personality traits or characteristics.
By addressing specific actions and behaviors, feedback becomes more actionable and constructive. It enables employees to understand and make targeted improvements in their performance.
❌ Bad: "You're lazy and unmotivated."
✅ Good: "I've noticed that you've missed a few deadlines recently. Let's discuss how we can work together to improve your time management skills and meet our project goals."
4: Make the Conversation Two-Way
Lecturing individuals on how they should improve is about as effective as speaking to a wall.
Instead of talking at someone, it's far more effective to open up the conversation and engage in dialogue with them.
Allow the receiver to respond to your feedback and encourage them to ask follow-up questions. Once the issue is clear, you can collaboratively work together to identify a solution or course of action.
❌ Bad: "Here are the areas where you need to improve. Take note and work on them."
✅ Good: "I've noticed a few areas where we can improve. Can you share your thoughts on these points? Let's discuss together how we can address them and support your growth."
5: Explain the Impact
You have to explain why the feedback matters in the bigger picture. This means highlighting how the information or observation you shared affects not just the individual, but also others or the business as a whole.
Since you've already set the stage with the previous steps, the other person should now be open to understanding the impact. They know you're sharing this to help them grow. But it's still important to spell it out so they grasp why it's important.
❌ Bad: "You're not a team player."
✅ Good: "I understand that you are an introvert and might like to work independently on certain projects. However, there are other projects where actively collaborating with team members is required for optimal results. Let's discuss how we can make you more comfortable while also fostering effective teamwork.”
6: Agree on the Way Forward
Finally, it’s important to establish a plan of action for moving forward.
This involves aligning with the individual on the specific steps they will take to address the feedback and improve their performance.
❌ Bad: "You need to figure out how to improve."
✅ Good: "Let's work together to outline actionable steps for improvement. How about you lead our upcoming team presentation on Tuesday? This will provide an opportunity for practical application and feedback, which we can discuss further in our next check-in.”
If handled well, difficult and vulnerable conversations build trust. The relationship goes beyond surface-level interactions and becomes meaningful.
You now have a solid framework which you can use to drive conversations for growth and stronger connections.
🌟 Introducing HR Trivia: Test Your HR Knowledge! 🌟
Are you ready to put your HR expertise to the test? Welcome to HR Trivia, where each week we will dive into an HR topic and challenge your knowledge with fun and insightful questions.
Get ready to sharpen your skills, learn something new, and have a blast with HR Trivia!
Stay tuned for the Leaderboard, featuring top performers, in next week's newsletter!
Take our HR Trivia challenge here (7 questions).
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