the art of Feedback
The Art of Feedback
By Chris Halward, Managing Director, True North
Beloved by the HR department and often hated by managers and managed alike. Performance feedback everyone agrees is an important activity that has many benefits, but for many people it is very difficult to give and to receive.
The key benefits of performance feedback are that it provides people with an opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and consider how they can improve.
What is fundamental to the giving and receiving of feedback is attitude. The attitude of the giver of feedback needs to be supportive, it needs to be objective and it also needs to have a degree of humility. The attitude of the receiver needs to be open, receptive and confident. The catalyst that makes the feedback work successfully is mutual respect.
The Process
If feedback is carried out in a mechanical way it is likely to be a limited success. For some people there is little need for any planned process. Such people have a natural ability to offer or receive feedback in a very effective way.
For most people who are less natural a process is helpful. For clues about the process to use we need only look at what people do who are natural givers of feedback.
One
The feedback is not loaded with praise or criticism. Praise and criticism will be subjective judgements, they will be focused on the person, not the activity. Almost certainly the receiver of feedback will be put onto the defensive.
Two
The feedback is specific and, ideally, observed by the giver. The giver of feedback will take responsibility for the feedback by using 'I' when delivering the feedback.
Three
The person who is a natural will be both clear and direct. They will not hedge around a topic but simply state the observation they have made and its impact.
Four
Body language is more important than many people realise. Eye contact, an even tone to the voice - avoiding any harshness, sarcasm or anger for example - and ensuring that they allow time for the other person to respond are all particularly important.
Five
Timing of feedback can make a big difference. All too often feedback is given too long after the event. This means it is very difficult for the receiver to connect it to the event itself. Note that feedback can also be given too quickly! Negative feedback needs feedback to be delivered calmly and objectively - this can sometimes be difficult when the giver of feedback is perhaps upset about what has happened. Better to calm down and regain some composure and then give the feedback. This, however, doesn't mean delaying the feedback for days, weeks, or even months!
The Practice
Delivering feedback well is for most people not easy. Feedback is perhaps more of an art than it is a skill. What we have found here at True North is that the training environment does allow people the safe learning space within which to develop a successful feedback style. Each person's style will be different, and other than the naturals it will need to be practised. Ideally we suggest it is practised in the training room, and then it needs to be developed in the real world before being practised again in a follow up session.
The Art of Feedback is part of True North's Management Skills Toolkit.
Chris Halward is a director of True North (GB) Limited a leading training and coaching business which has been delivering training programmes to thousands of trainees for over 10 years. The True North training style is based on non-directive coaching and is highly engaging and learner focused.
For more information please contact Chris on 0845 130 5500
chrish@truenorthgb.com