Note: This articule is not my perpertive, this is my take over about Feedback in the Making the manager capter 4.
The art of feedback
Most of the people struggle giving feedback. It's hard to give feedback, and it's hard to receive it. For a learder is really important to give feedback when things goes well and when things aren't. The reason behind that is you enforce expectations about what's good and what's not. So people know where to aim. What's is a great feedback? A great feedback is a feedback that is specific, actionable and kind. A great feedback inspired you people to change your behavior, which resulted in your life getting better. Your feedback only counts if it makes things better. If it doesn't, it's not feedback, it's just criticism.
Does my feedback lead to the change I'm hoping for? Am I giving feedback good enought?
If you consider the frecuency of your feedback is low, one tactic I've found helpful is to devote a single 1:1 every month to just discussing behavioral feedback and career goals.
SBIs: Situation, Behavior, Impact
Situation: Describe the situation when and were you observed the behavior. Behavior: Describe the behavior you observed. Avoid making assumptions or subjective judgments about someone's behaviors. These could be wrong, and they may undermine your feedback. Impact: Describe the impact that behavior had on you. Use statements to underline the person / team impacted like "I", "We".
Set clear expectations at the beginning
The feedback process should begin before , you should agree what the success looks like?. Before staring any process please make sure you answer:
What a great job looks like?
What advice you have to help report to do a great job?
Common pitfalls your report should avoid.
Every major disapointment is a failture to set expectations. Nobody likes being taking by surprise with bad news. Your report has made it clear that he/she wants a promotion, here's the magical words
I understand that you'd like to work toward a promotion, but here are the gaps I'm seeing...
Not been "Swoop and poop"
Here, setting expectations helps with both problems. At the beginning of the project, let your report know how you're planning to be involved. Be explicit that you'd like to review the work twice a week for example and a talk throught the most important problems together. Tell him which decisions you expect to make and which he should make. Stay always together con your report. Don't leave it alone.
Give a task-specific feedback as frequently as you can
If you find yourself giving feedback only once a year, you are doing it wrong. You should give feedback as frequently as you can. Task-specific feedback is most effective when the action performed is still fresh in your report's memory, so share it as soon as you can. Quick note about the presentation you gave this morning: I notice you went straight to the proposal without explaning how you got there. This made it hard to access why it was the best path. Next time, try spending a few minutes talking throught your process and what alternatives you considered.
Share behavioral feedback throughtfully and regularly
This type of feedback is useful because it provides a level of personalization and depth that is missing from task-specific feedback. By connecting the dots across multiple situations, you can help people to understand how their unique interest, personalities and habits affect their ability to have impact. By giving this type of feedback, you're making a statement about how to percieve that person, so your words need to be throughful and kind. This should be supported with specific examples, to explain why you feel that way. It helps people to understand the reality of how others see them, which may be different than how they see themselves.** it can be difficult to hear, but it's a gift. It's so personal, it's like therapy sessions.
Collect 360-Degree feedback for maximum objectivity
Three hundred and sixty degree feedback is agregated from multiple perpectives.Many companies run a 360-feedback process once or twice a year. If it's not formally done, please gather the feedback yourself. It's simple just answer:
What should do more of? What should X change or stop doing?
As a manager, you should set up a meeting with your report to discuss the feedback. You should not share the feedback directly, you should ask your report to share their own feedback first. This will help you to understand how they see themselves and how they see the feedback. After that, you can share the feedback you have collected. Please make sure you document the learnings in a shared document, so you can refer to it later.
Then? What's next?
At the end of any conversation, when you're not sure wheter you've been heard, where are few things you can do:
Ok let's make sure, we're on the same page, what are your takeaways and next steps?
Summarize in an email.
Help the person to hear the same message many times from many resources.
After gathering the 360 feedback, sometimes make sense to ask: 'Would you be comfortable sharing that feedback directly with x?'
Does my feedback lead to a positive action?
Make sure your feedback as specific as possible. Use clear examples to get it the why so it's easier to the recipient to know what you mean. Clarity what success looks and feels like. If you can't describe it, you can't expect it. Suggest next steps. Be clearabout whether you're setting an expectation or merely making a suggestion.
Delivering bad news
The best way to give critical feedback is to delive it directly and dispassionately. Do not start with a long preamble. Don't try to sugarcoat If you need a template use this
When I [heard/observed/reflected on] your [action / behavior / output], I felt concerned because...
I would like to understand your perpective and talk about how we can solve this.
If you're delivering bad news, the desicion should be the first thing out of your month you both sit down. You should own the decision. Be firm, don't open it to a discussion. Telling it straight is a sign of respect.
I've decided to go with somebody else to lead this initiative...
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