What do you do if your feedback needs to be honest and supportive?

I feel that this takes time. It's no good suddenly expecting someone to 'feel your empathy' if you haven't ever given them the time of day before. Take time building a relationship and give someone evidence of your support and trust. It's much easier this way in my experience.

Start with Positives: Begin by highlighting the individual's strengths and accomplishments before addressing areas for improvement. Acknowledging their positive attributes helps create a foundation of trust and encourages receptivity to constructive feedback. Focus on Behavior, Not Personality: When delivering feedback, focus on specific behaviors or actions rather than making judgments about the individual's character or personality. Frame your feedback in terms of observable behaviors and their impact on outcomes, rather than making generalizations or assumptions about the person.

Starting from empathy helps to frame feedback as something you're discussing because you care and want to support change. Assume that the person isn't needing the feedback because they are intentionally missing something but that they just don't know yet. From there it's all about specificity and a future focus.

Embracing empathy is critical when providing honest and supportive feedback. It helps you connect with the individual, understand their perspective, and convey your message effectively. Here's how you can approach it: Understand Their Perspective: Put yourself in their shoes to grasp their feelings and challenges, which can help you tailor your feedback to be more empathetic and supportive. Acknowledge Their Efforts: Highlight their strengths and efforts before addressing areas for improvement, which can build trust and show that you value their work. You can create a supportive environment that encourages growth and development by embracing empathy in your feedback.

One approach that I have found helpful is that before even starting to give the feedback, to have an initial conversation laying out the intent and discuss how the individual prefers to receive it - not shying away from tough love if needed !! - and gaining commitment to listening & intent to understand. In other words, co-create the environment/approach to foster a conversation of value for them ..

Feedback can be taken personally if you do not set the stage the right way. You risk disengaging your team member if you are vague. Your primary role as a leader is to help each of your team be the best professional they can be. Be specific with your feedback, share situations and examples how this behavior or action shows up, and how it could be improved.

Offer feedback that is clear, concise, and actionable. Highlight specific behaviors or actions that require improvement or recognition. Concrete examples help the individual understand the feedback better and formulate a plan for growth.

To help you be specific, there are number of frameworks you can either use or get inspiration from. For instance, CLEAN feedback can work well because it forces you to refer to a specific instance, moment or task. And then to articulate the impact it had, both in tangible and intangible ways. That way you also capture how behaviours impact how it made other people feel. This is powerful because people quickly understand how other people perceive their actions and behaviours.

Still the 'sandwich'? This is so outdated. Tell the truth and ensure that it is about a behaviour and not the human being. And balanced feedback. If another human being did something well, let's tell them. And don't wait that they did something less well just to balance.

The Art of Constructive Criticism: Balancing Honesty and Support. Honest Assessment: Begin by acknowledging the strengths and areas needing improvement. Be specific and provide examples to show your points. Supportive Tone: Offer feedback in a constructive and empathetic manner. Focus on solutions rather than problems, and encourage growth and development. Balancing honesty with support in your feedback is crucial for fostering a positive and growth-oriented environment. You can help individuals improve while maintaining their motivation and morale by providing honest yet supportive feedback.

Learn to receive feedback well first. If you know how to welcome and engage with constructive feedback, you’re more likely to deliver feedback in a way that lands well.

Feedback can backfire if not handled with care. Start in a factual way, using phrases such as 'I noticed, I saw, I observed.' This makes it easier for the recipient to engage and reduces any potential defensiveness. The second part is where the 'meat' lies and again, to help the recipient stay as open as possible to what is being communicated, it is helpful to use the phrase 'the impact this had on me was...' Personalisation of the experience makes it a) more genuine and authentic to the listener and b) easier to absorb as the impact on one person rather than a blanket criticism. The third step call to action, is again designed to prompt self-reflection rather than induce shame, something along the lines of 'so how shall we handle this?'

Instead of dwelling on past mistakes, focus on the future and opportunities for improvement. Frame feedback in a forward-thinking manner, emphasizing growth and development rather than dwelling on shortcomings.

I love to start with defining success. What would good look like? What about great? I find that stepping into the future helps remove some of the restrictions that come with a present focus. Feedback and encouragement can then be seen as tools to help the recipient close the gap to the desired outcome.

Offer suggestions for improvement: Instead of just pointing out the problems, provide specific suggestions or actionable steps the person can take to improve. Offer guidance, resources, or additional support if necessary.

Feedback focuses on learning from what has been. Feedforward sets people up for success. A simple way to make this transition seamless is to naturally slip into a coaching moment or conversation once the feedback has been explored. This will always have more success than dictating what someone should do differently. Where is their learning?

Feedback is about generating mutual understanding of the current situation and creating new ideas to continue improving. Rather than delivering a feedback as if it's incontestable, share an observation and invite the person's perspective. Perhaps they viewed the task differently or had a different view of their own performance. Realize that any feedback can bring with it an emotional response, especially if the person perceives their performance or worth to be questioned. By creating an atmosphere in which you can discuss the context and larger goals of the project, the discussion can be much more amiable. Be sure to have these conversations when you're as fresh as possible to avoid bringing the baggage of the day into the meeting.

Want to give honest and supportive feedback? Create a two-way street. Invite your team member to the conversation. Encourage questions, reflections, and ideas. Use reflective listening to show you're not just hearing their words, but truly seeing their perspective. This isn't a lecture; it's a collaboration. When your team member feels like an active participant in their own development, they're more likely to take ownership of their growth. They'll be more receptive to your insights and motivated to make real change. Don't just deliver feedback - create a dialogue. Ask, listen, and reflect. Show your team member that their voice matters and watch as they become the driving force behind their own success.

You've prepared your honest feedback, ready to deliver it with a supportive tone. But before you launch into your well-crafted monologue, pause. Feedback shouldn't be a one-way street. It's a dialogue, a dance of ideas and perspectives. Invite your team member into the conversation. Ask questions, encourage reflection, and create space for their insights. When you approach feedback with curiosity and active listening, you create a participatory environment where growth can flourish. Your team member feels heard, valued, & empowered to take ownership of their development. So, don't just talk at them. Engage with them. Be curious about their experiences, their challenges, and their aspirations. That's when the magic of feedback truly happens.

Create an open and safe environment for dialogue. Encourage the individual to share their perspective, concerns, and ideas for improvement. Active listening fosters mutual understanding and collaboration.

If you expect a recipient to be open to your feedback, you need to be open to their perspective too. Listening is key. I find that establishing where there is common ground and where the gaps exist, then leads to a more meaningful exploration of perception gaps. This is what will support ideation in how to achieve improvements.

Feedback should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event. Schedule follow-up conversations to track progress, provide additional support, and celebrate milestones achieved. Consistent feedback demonstrates your commitment to the individual's growth and success.

In my experience, follow-up after feedback has been shared is often patchy. Positive intentions can easily be overtaken by competing priorities. Design what follow-up the recipient would like when feedback is initially shared. This helps the recipient to feel greater ownership. Then honour that agreement. Diarise forward to make sure you do not forget. I would suggest trying to make this an ongoing routine, rather than a series of one offs. This helps build the muscle in a sustainable way.

Follow-up can definitely be very powerful. It very much depends on the feedback given in the first place. Was it something ad-hoc? Or rather something in a more formal context? Concerning a development goal for instance that needs time to achieve? Last but not least, a follow-up can well be scheduled by the receiver, (too). Commitment ...

This is not an option when it comes to feedback. You should always deliver feedback in an honest and supportive framework. If you want to improve your ability to do those two elements better, that’s a different question. Here are some things to look into developing if that is the case: 1. Emotional Intelligence 2. Executive Presence 3. Presentation Skills 4. Negotiation Skills 5. Team Building 6. Cross-functional Collaboration 7. Leadership training These are broad topics that you can search for learning and growth opportunities across. Here are some mediums to look into: 1. Podcasts 2. Books 3. Audiobooks 4. Certifications 5. Training Programs 6. Mentorship Programs / Mentor 7. Educational Coursework 8. Seminars 9. Peer Groups

Feedback can start with questions: - what did you think? - how did you come across? - Why do you feel proud about this piece of work? or not pround about it?

I didn't see anything about making sure the receiver is open to and ready to receive the feedback. Often in the workplace, leaders are supposed to deliver feedback at a certain time or in a certain way, so they just do it. That's not a great way to ensure the receiver takes in the feedback. They must be in the mindset to receive the feedback. And they must trust the person giving the feedback. If trust does not exist then the expected results may not be seen. If they're going through something personal that is impacting their bandwidth and way of being or slammed and overloaded, then it's not the right time to give feedback and have it taken to heart. Make it about the receiver of the feedback. Not you as the giver.