From research by Gallup shows that giving effective feedback in the workplace increases engagement, productivity, retention and, ultimately, profitability. Therefore, it is important for everyone to know how best to give feedback and make it a habit. The result of engagement, productivity and retention is better employee retention, which means they will work longer for your organization. With these 10 golden feedback rules you can build an effective feedback culture within your organization. Would you like more explanation of the feedback rules? Then be sure to read further below the image.
Rule 1: Focus on behavior, performance and results, not the person themselves
When giving feedback, make sure that you address the other person's behavior, performance and/or results rather than his/her personality. You can easily get someone to change their behavior or perform better, but you can hardly get them to change their personality. So make sure your feedback is impersonal and related to work performance, behavior and results. You can achieve this very easily by avoiding the word "you" in your feedback. Such as: 'You didn't do this well'. This removes the accusation.
Rule 2: Be specific
Are you giving too general feedback? Then this will not cause people to change their behavior, and is therefore not effective. The recipient will feel good for a few minutes when you say "good presentation," but won't get anything out of it down the road because there is no action point attached to it. What was good? Why was it good? Make sure the feedback is concrete and give specific examples. This gives the other person the opportunity to do something with it. This is how you help the other person move forward.
Rule 3: Always give feedback with the goal of making the other person better
This is perhaps the most important rule in giving effective feedback. The intention of feedback is to make the other person better. So make sure you always keep this in mind. Don't use feedback to blow off steam or trample on the other person. When you merely express your frustration, it may make you feel better, but it won't make anyone else better. It creates resistance and negativity instead of progress and positivity. Feedback is only effective when it contains an element that the other person can improve (or strengthen in the case of positive feedback).
Rule 4: Address your feedback to the person it is intended for
Give your feedback to the person it is intended for and do so one-on-one. It is rude when you do this in the group. By starting the conversation with the recipient, it doesn't feel like an attack and you can talk together about how to improve this behavior.
Rule 5: Give your feedback as soon as possible
After all, you don't wish someone a Happy New Year in July. So feedback doesn't mean much when it comes six months later. However, it is important to control your emotions as much as possible. Make sure (when you are angry) that you have calmed down and thought about what you want to say before you give the feedback. But don't wait too long to do this.
Rule 6: Take your time
In addition to thinking carefully about what you want to say, it is important to take the time to give feedback. Don't give feedback in passing. Do you? Then the information will not be absorbed well by the other person and you will achieve little with it. Giving feedback through an online tool gives you time to think about what you want to say. Think of writing as slow thinking.
Rule 7: Forget the sandwich method
You can still find feedback trainings everywhere that are based on the sandwich method (compliment, constructive criticism, compliment). Research has shown that this method is too transparent. Employees hear a compliment and then immediately brace themselves for the criticism to come. In addition, compliments carry more weight than criticism, which ensures that the compliments are remembered and the criticism is quickly forgotten.
Rule 8: Speak for yourself and what you have seen, not what others think or have told you.
You've probably heard someone say it, "I heard that.... When an employee gets this on his/her plate, he/she almost always gets defensive. "Who said this about me?" is the question that follows. Without knowing where the information came from, you don't know what context to put it in and can do virtually nothing with it. Give feedback on things you have observed yourself and always speak from the first-person point of view.
Rule 9: Just give feedback!
Giving feedback is scary and especially if it is constructive criticism. But despite that, it's still important that you give the feedback. If you don't, the problem will only pile up and almost never improve. For a team to perform at its best, it is important that everyone knows what the expectations are, what is going well and what could be better. Effective feedback is the best way to achieve this.
Rule 10: Keep doing it!
The last rule is certainly not the least important. It takes some time and effort to master giving feedback, but once you get the hang of it, it can yield amazing results. For example, employees feel more appreciated and experience more job happiness when feedback is given regularly. So make sure it becomes a habit.
Hopefully, these 10 golden feedback rules will help you become an expert at giving feedback. Good luck!