What are the most effective ways to give feedback to your employees?

Simply put, feedback is constructive criticism. Through insight and guidance, feedback allows people to analyze their weaknesses and reflect on how they can be their very best. This type of communication is essential for people to share new ideas and support each other. It provides actionable and specific references for teams to be engaged and develop quality work. Furthermore, when people receive feedback, they are also able to align it with their goals and values to become stronger contributors.

The most important way leaders can prepare to give 'developmental feedback' is investing into the relational bank account. Effective leaders do that by regularly showing their team members consideration, kindness, empathy, appreciation, and support. This creates psychologically safety so feedback can be given more easily and accepted more positively to fuel development. Without enough in that account, those conversations feel awkward and can even erode psychological safety further.

Clarity in the feedback and providing feedback on time are very important. In case of developmental feedback, stating the specific instances or situations and asking the person on their perspective works well. This makes the employee feel heard , and also helps us understand their side of the story. Proceed to give your perspective and the reasoning on why you arrived at that conclusion. Follow this with some questions on what are the exact challenges they faced, and ask how you can support them in terms of any mentoring, training or guidance. It is also important to let the team member know that it is ok to fail, but learning from it and making sure not to repeat the scenario is what is important.

It's important to remember that most feedback is subjective. Much is based on our own perspectives, values, beliefs, and experiences. You should acknowledge this when you give feedback. In their HBR article, The Feedback Fallacy, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall suggest using phrases like, "When you did x, I felt y or didn't get it" or "I'm struggling with your plan" or "When I don't hear from you, I worry that we're not on the same page." When giving critical feedback, use positive non-verbal signals to lessen the negative impact, such as nods and smiles.

Remember that feedback is delivered differently across different cultures so if you are working with international teams you need to be aware of that. Many Asians don't feel comfortable receiving feedback in public, they would prefer it to be in private, whereas in the Netherlands it wouldn't necessarily be an issue. As a leader you have to be able to deliver feedback (whether positive or negative) in a way that team members are able to take on board and process for themselves, which means you ideally have a deep understanding of each individual and how they tick. Feedback should never be personal, but always as objective as possible and also as "immediate" as is practicable - no point waiting 6 months when the incident is forgotten.

I like the SBI framework for delivering both positive and negative feedback, I find that it is very effective and ensures that you avoid vague statements and prevents the feedback from straying into personal comments. SBI explained: Situation - Explain the context of the situation e.g. During the presentation yo gave last week you answered all of the tough questions from the exec team very adeptly. Behaviour - Explain the behaviour that you observed e.g.: You remained calm, and answered each question in a professional and detailed manner Impact - communicate the impact of the behaviour on you, the team, and the organisation e.g.: You demonstrated the teams knowledge and skills and you convinced the execs to make a positive change.

If you are not mature enough as a leader to take feedback onboard then you can't expect to be leading a team that will be open to receiving feedback from you. It's SOOOO valuable as a leader when one of your team feels they can trust you with constructive feedback (good or bad)

Feedback and coaching should be an every day event, not just reserved for performance reviews or appraisals. It can also cover the little things that make company life run more smoothly. It doesn't always have to be so formal as to need an action plan if you are really on the ball and give ongoing very regular feedback.

Providing feedback doesn't always have to be on a set schedule (monthly, quarterly, or yearly). It should be given regularly whenever it's needed. The sooner you provide feedback to your team, the better they can perform their jobs. This also helps foster a culture of giving and receiving feedback within your team. While companies typically have designated times for leaders to provide feedback to their teams, the most effective feedback conversations often happen when they occur regularly and spontaneously. This can be after each project or during regular catch-up meetings. This is when your team members will feel more comfortable and can engage in more meaningful discussions about what comes next, and so on.

When it comes to positive vs. critical feedback, positive far outweighs the critical when it comes to increasing engagement and motivation. Focusing on shortcomings often disables learning. Research by Martin Seligman and Michelle McQuaid found that when managers focus on employee weaknesses, performance declines by 27% versus a 36% improvement when the focus is on strengths.