Giving Feedback to New Teammates

When should I give feedback to new teammates?

This is a question I often hear from both new and experienced people managers as they welcome new colleagues, whether recently hired or, as is especially common in the tech industry this year, following layoffs that have, according to TechCrunch , impacted 60,000 employees across 254 companies in the sector.

Such massive layoffs often lead to team restructurings, mergers, and other organizational changes, resulting in employees who have been with the same company now working together for the first time. Having survived the cuts, these employees are often sensitive to what has happened and wanting to make good first impressions with their new colleagues.

The underlying intention of the question is always good; the manager wants to ensure they are creating a welcoming and psychologically safe experience for their new teammate.

Diving deeper, I usually learn that by “feedback” the manager means negative feedback . In essence, they tend to think negative feedback will be their first meaningful feedback experience with their new colleague — and they want to make sure they aren’t giving it too early in the relationship.

Expanding your feedback capabilities

Exposing this insight is one reason why understanding what feedback is becomes so essential. Once we are on the same page, it becomes clear to the manager that the best time to give feedback is when they’ve noticed a behavior in their new colleague that is worthy of calling attention to.

And, almost always, this behavior is likely to be something positive. If there's nothing yet, I recommend finding the positive. You can do this be commenting on past results they've driven or even what you've heard others say about their work.

At this point, the manager's perception of the feedback relationship has dramatically expanded from seeing it as a single (negative) door to now seeing the many feedback types as many doors in a long hallway.

In my experience and as validated through many conversations, providing positive feedback is typically the first opportunity to provide feedback and achieve the manager’s intention of creating an empowered and effective team.

Why?

Often because the new teammate will be trying hard to make a good impression or will have exhibited some positive behavior or strong skill that is worth highlighting for them.

And don't wait a week or until your next 1-1 to give this feedback. Give it as soon as you can; even on Day 1 if possible! Doing so fits what Denise McLain and Bailey Nelson, M.S. refer to as "Fast Feedback ," giving meaningful feedback frequently rather than only at traditionally scheduled times (like quarterly reviews). Here is one insight they shared at Gallup :

"Employees are 3.6 times more likely to strongly agree that they are motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily feedback."

Remember, as we addressed in the 5 Feedback Myths , specific positive feedback can improve employee morale and highlight strengths the employee needs to be made aware of.

While it's possible that the first behavior you notice in your new teammate may be worth you providing negative feedback, in all likelihood, your first opportunity to provide meaningful feedback will be of the positive variety.

As we covered in the constructive feedback course (see below), vague positive comments should be backed up with specific details like this:

Lastly, the general rule to give feedback as close to the observed behavior as reasonable still applies.

If you had enough care and self-awareness to wonder about the best time to give your new colleague feedback, you have the skills necessary to recognize which of their behaviors to highlight and when.

Constructive Feedback Course