Henry David Thoreau, in his book “Walden Pond,” wrote, “Could a greater miracle take place than to look through another’s eyes for an instant?”
What an amazing thought! The very idea of seeing yourself through the eyes of those around you is surely incredible… if not scary. Nonetheless, whether it’s as employers, managers, parents or anyone with any level of leadership, responsibility and authority… providing those who work for us or work with us “feedback” is a integral part of the improvement process.
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What is feedback? “Feedback” is providing another (or others) information and reactions to a person’s performance related to a specific objective or task. Although its primary function is improvement, the following represent the other benefits and objectives of sound feedback.
- Improved Performance
When a manager (or parent, for that matter) provides helpful, constructive feedback, it usually leads to improved performance. Simply put, feedback teaches us what we need to do better.
- Personal and Professional Development
In most cases, everyone seeks to improve, to be more efficient, to be more valuable. Well-defined feedback is a strong personal and professional development mechanism.
- Insuring That Future Mistakes Are Avoided
Needless to say, we all make mistakes. The key, however, is to avoid making the same mistake again and learning from that mistake. Feedback shines a light on mistakes and focuses on improvement activities..
- Making Sure A Project Or Task Is “On Track”
Feedback is a great “check in” to review the status and progress of an assignment. Remember, “feedback” is part of a “helping process.”
- Increased Employee Engagement
“Engagement” is vital for the success of an organization. It builds esprit de corp… it also helps build important retention. Feedback, if delivered properly, positively and productively is a positive engagement resource.
- Diffusing Conflict Before It Arises
By pointing out pitfalls, potential problems, likely road blocks, etc. through providing the “what if” scenario via feedback, conflict or problems can be cut off before they become an issue.
- Providing Open Communication
Success and failure in any relationship, business or personal, is typically correlative to communication or the lack thereof. Feedback is the ultimate form of honest, sincere, improvement-centric communication.
- Providing Others What They Truly Want
Whether it’s an employee led initiative or a task assigned to a child, people truly want feedback. People want to know “How am I doing?” People crave attention and seeing that someone cares to help them improve and succeed. That makes feedback a vital tool for robust relationships.
- Providing Motivation
A great strategy for providing feedback is to bundle any negative feedback with some positive feedback. By doing that, you’re coming off as focusing on constructive input, coaching and support.
Here are some compelling imperatives I’ve learned for providing actionable feedback. Here’s a sound “focus feedback” list.
Focus feedback on the actual performance of the employee, rather than on his/her personality.
Focus feedback on accurate description as opposed to making it evaluative.
Focus feedback on sharing insight, input and information rather than on giving advice.
Focus feedback on alternative improvement strategies as opposed to recommending the “best” action steps or paths to take.
Focus feedback on today… the present… rather than the past.
Focus feedback on real, factual data points and your observations rather than your beliefs, inferences and assumptions.
Focus feedback on controllable items rather than items the employee cannot control.
Focus feedback on relevant items and issues rather than philosophical issues.
Furthermore, focus feedback on improvement. When an employee changes behavior or improves, that provides a great opportunity for positive feedback, appreciation and acknowledgement.
In short, the benefits of a well orgainzed, focused operating style and guiding principle “with” feedback will provide huge benefits. Feedback can be structured (i.e. performance review) or anecdotal (i.e. as something is happening or recently happened) or by a gesture (i.e. a pat on the bat… a wink… a thumbs up… an OK sign… a public announcement… a bulletin board note… etc.). Nonetheless, various strategies on providing feedback are well worth the effort and typically bring forth progress and future results… much less positive relationships.
One important note is that “immediacy” is the key to great feedback. Give both positive and negative feedback quickly so that it can be aligned with great learning… and either correction or continuation of an activity.
There’s a terrific quote (attributed to “unknown”) worthy of considering, “Feedback, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”
Ira Blumenthal is a business consultant, a Georgia resident, a best-selling author, a globally renowned public speaker, a university educator and a college Lacrosse coach. Ira welcomes inquiries and can be reached at Ira@Iraspeak.com. His web site is www.IraSpeak.com
