Feedback Time

At this time of year, most of the company asks its leaders to face the performance feedback stage. Much has been written about it and the contrast of expert opinions can be overwhelming, however here are some recommendations in which most experts agree:

1- Instead of remembering and highlighting the past performance opportunities of a collaborator, an action that would only activate the Fight or flight mechanism, try the opposite, we grow more in the areas where we have our greatest abilities, so remind him what he did well and emphasized it.

2- On many occasions it is necessary to highlight activities that were not executed correctly, when the time comes for this, remember: the feedback you deliver is nothing more than a biased view of your own perspective of the facts, so when delivering you must always remember to state both actions and alternatives strictly as your individual perception or your proposal, never as a fact that your counterpart must accept without question. Instead of saying “This is what you should do”, say “This is what I have seen others do that works”.

3- Remember that you are the leader, although recognizing the good deeds of collaborators can be valuable, nothing will have a greater impact than expressing what you felt as a leader when they were successful.

4- To close, ask your team to highlight the activities or projects that they are carrying out and that are working, this will activate the most creative part of their brain, then ask them to remember circumstances from the past in which their approach has been effective. Finally, it is time to address the future, ask them about the challenges ahead, offer them your experiences in similar situations, but always with the understanding that you know that they already have their own tools to solve the situation, you are only there to help them identify the correct road.

The feedback process is a complex process, but when we talk to someone with appreciation, with honesty, highlighting the moments of success and how they made you feel as a leader, the chances of this behavior becoming part of their habits increase.