What are the benefits of giving and receiving feedback regularly?

In 1998 First Break All of the Rules – What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently became a #1 best seller identifying the factors that maximized employee engagement, aka, the Gallup Q12 These were the most important: 1. Clarify expectations upfront. 2. Assign people intrinsically motivating work. 3. Provide people with the resources needed for them to be successful. 4. Provide coaching, guidance, and support as needed. IMO the feedback should be around these critical issues and regular enough to ensure there is alignment and support.

Giving and receiving regular feedback offers several benefits. Feedback provides a platform for individuals to enhance their skills and performance. Regular input highlights areas for improvement, allowing individuals to make necessary adjustments and progress, rather than going long periods of time without being aware of where they can improve. Timely feedback can also address issues and conflicts before they escalate. It allows for constructive discussions, leading to solutions and improved relationships. Giving regularly contributes to individual growth, improved relationships, and the overall success of organisations and teams.

I believe that leaders are not leading if they are not offering feedback regularly. It isn’t easy to start but do it. Talk to your team. If you decide to start this authentically, plan a meeting, let your team know what you want to do and talk about how they want to receive feedback. Make it a conversation, ask them for their input and take their ideas, thank them for their help and then put a plan together to consciously and consistently have a conversation with each one of them each day. Sounds ridiculous now but if you have 20 people on your team it could be an hour of your day now but the more you practice it, the less time it will take you and the positive reactions from people will sustain your efforts!

In the discussion of the advantages of regular feedback exchange, a notable insight from this article is the emphasis on fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Recognizing that ongoing feedback loops contribute to individual and organizational growth resonates deeply. By encouraging both giving and receiving feedback as an integral part of professional development, organizations can create an environment where employees feel empowered to evolve and excel.

Agreed. Feedback is essential in any working relationship. It is the glue that keeps the team focused on the same target. It is the guard that keeps silo thinking and practices from forming. It embraces standards so that abnormal conditions can be spotted and addressed quickly. Without it, organizations will lose their ability to recruit and retain solid performers. The Bottom Line: feedback is critical and is a required way of work on any team.

Feedback as a leader is a 2 way street. Even if we have to deliver feedback to our team, we need to be prepared to receive feedback from them. It is our job to open ourselves to that feedback and create a positive moment out of that. That means staying positive, showing appreciation, and being honest about it. When you master feedback in this bilateral approach you develop a level of trust with your team that help improve your team culture, learning and growth. This foundation of rapport is critical to how you and your team give and receive feedback in the negative situations in the future.

The uniqueness of each employee is essential. Recognizing individual characteristics can enhance strengths and face weaknesses, benefiting both personal and team performance. Regular feedback, especially when offered continuously and not just at the end of a cycle, generates much more value, as it allows actions for constant improvement. It is more than just looking back, it addresses the present, strengthening trust between manager and employee. Based on transparency, commitment to improvement and praise for achievements, this consistent dialogue inspires employees to overcome their limits. Both managers and employees extract invaluable learnings from a feedback-oriented culture.

When managers and staff communicate on a regular basis about large and smaller matters and there’s a steady exchange of positive news as well as recommendations for improvements, then trust develops and the hurt, shock and resentment when the comment isn’t good may be replaced by acceptance and such advice used to improve an organization as well as strengthen individual skills.

Set this up on Day 1. Explore in your start-up conversation: - What does helpful feedback look like for you? - How will you collect feedback about how you're doing? (Help them with this if they're not sure) - Who would be good to ask for this feedback? - How often shall we catch up? - Here's a couple of things that I'd like to suggest....

The power of feedback lies in having a clear standard for comparison. With clear success measures we can self-regulate by assessing and refining most aspects of our performance on our own. Focusing on that first empowers employees and saves time by reducing, if not eliminating, the need for supplemental feedback or coaching.

In some cases, I have some workplace coaches and line managers debating about whether or not feedback always boosts performance. Some believe that feedback can be demoralizing and can actually lead to decreased performance. The truth is that feedback can be both positive and negative. It can be motivating or discouraging, depending on how it is delivered. When feedback is given in a way that is constructive and helpful, it can boost performance. However, when feedback is given in a way that is critical or judgmental, it can have the opposite effect.

Regular feedback is essential to make sure employees and their managers are on the same level regarding overall performance, as well as other KPIs If an employee is lacking in a specific area, having a conversation earlier on can tackle the issue and increase their performance significantly. When employees know the areas they need to improve, they can directly address the issues and get further faster.

I find it helpful to have managers envision what the process would look like if they were removed from the equation, with the employee left to fend for themselves. Without direction and instructions, it would be akin to giving an employee a vehicle with no roadmap and no clear destination. Feedback is the equivalent of having a GPS navigation system, or a guide that will assist the employee in reaching their goal and preparing them to embark on the next task.

PLEASE, no feedback sandwich. Positive-developmental-positive works for progress updates, but not for day-to-day feedback. People either listen to just the praise or - more likely - just the glaring (as they see it) development need. Instead, when people do something well, explore that in the moment or as early as appropriate. Likewise if they have problems. For both conversations, use the CEDAR steps: CONTEXT: What happened and what was the impact/how big is it EXAMPLES: One or two to illustrate the situation DIAGNOSIS: WHY it happened (this is critical) ACTION: What action they want to take (you can add your suggestions if they're unsure) REVIEW: Set a date to follow up, or it will get lost in the melee.

The key to giving great feedback is setting up the person to receive it openly. No one wants to walk into a coaching session and be bombarded about all the things they are doing wrong with the follow up of, “go fix it.” Instead we open with questions about them, how they are doing, what challenges they feel they have, and how they are working through those challenges. Ideally they will already be aware of the feedback you need to give them, but if not using questions to guide them to it will get the conversation where it needs to go. Once you have identified the challenge it is important to partner with them on the solution. You as a leader are their support channel and should be prepared to join them in solving it through support.

Agree, Adam! Practicing regular (daily?) feedback can quickly become a helpful habit! As managers get more comfortable recognizing and commenting on team members' everyday efforts, attempts, missteps, accomplishments as well as big wins, employees, too, get used to talking about what they are doing and how they are doing it. It is no longer a "Big Deal" or something to be feared. It is just part of the everyday conversation.

I was once asked to rewrite a coworkers feedback they were providing for my boss as part of a leadership assessment. They didn't want to put it in their own words for fear of being recognized. The leader had asked for feedback in the past and when they disagreed with it, snapped back, argued it's merits, and started treating the employee who shared it in a less positive manner. From this day forward, they never received accurate feedback again. Everything that was shared with them was filtered. When receiving feedback you don't like, just say 'thank you' or 'I appreciate your honesty... I'm going to process that'. You don't have to agree with it or do anything with it. You do have to make it safe for people to give you feedback.

Being open minded is 90% of giving and receiving feedback effectively. If an employee is always closed to how they can improve, then they will never grow and will jeopardize their career. Likewise, if a manager cannot take feedback for fear of being seen as incompetent or disrespected, employees will no longer want to follow their lead. Everything will be done in fear and burnout will soon follow.

I strongly believe that giving and receiving feedback regularly is of utmost importance. Over the years, I have had numerous conversations with colleagues and mentees who expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of awareness regarding their managers' or peers' opinions about them. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate scheduled sessions for providing and seeking constructive feedback in your calendar. Make it a habit to engage in these feedback exchanges at least once a month with your team members and business partners. This practice undeniably enhances the work environment, directly influences performance, and fosters stronger trust-based relationships.

As neuroscience gets more and more integrated to talent processes, it teaches us that more regular feedback is a path to lowering the degree of social threat inherent when feedback and similar conversations are infrequent...once or twice a year, perhaps as part of a performance review. Social threat dramatically reduces one's executive functioning for taking in information and making decisions, as all available energy is channeled to our instinctive self-preservation reflexes. So, how might we expect the receiver to react in this type of environment? And, one powerful study physically measured the amount of social threat as being greater for the feedback giver. Infrequent feedback/performance conversations are set up, by nature, to fail.

Many years ago, when I was teaching, I regularly asked my HS students 4 questions on the last day of the term (after term results had been calculated): #1. What was the best (most useful) teaching method I used, and #2, what was the worst. #3, what was the most interesting topic or experience, and #4, what was the worst. I really learned big time from these young adults who had nothing to gain or lose by their response. And I was amazed at the consistency, expecially regarding methodology. The only way I could translate this to the workplace would be to ask employees similar questions at the time they are leaving - for whatever reason, and I think it might provide important insight for managers and team members.

First and foremost one should be ready to receive a feedback, i.e. to make change if necessary. there might be all relevant feedback mechanisms in place, which might give insightful contribution, but in there is no any follow up action, over time the feedback mechanism will lose its competency and trust. In the long run this will might have adverse effect and very hard to overcome.