Are You Being Heard? Giving Feedback Effectively
By Kristin Hodgkinson and Wendy R. Weidenbaum
In the day to day of managing your team it’s only natural that issues, challenges, and problems will arise and adjustments will need to be made. We all know what comes next. Feedback. Feedback is one of those things that people tend to tip toe around, either out of fear of offending employees or an inability to effectively communicate expectations and priorities. Follow these tips to effectively give feedback.
1. Body language
When giving feedback to an employee you want to appear as open as possible. This means squaring your shoulders to the person you’re talking to and maintaining good eye contact. Minimize fidgeting and make sure you’re not closing yourself off by crossing your arms. Also, don’t sit behind your desk as if you’re giving a lecture or playing the power position. Maintain an open space between you and your employee.
2. Keep it current
Be sure to address issues as they arise. Trying to correct a problem that arose weeks ago appears as if you’ve been stewing over it and the time that has elapsed will affect the relevance of the issue. Giving feedback within 24 – 48 hours is the best practice rule to strive towards.
3. Align expectations and priorities
Frame the meeting from the perspective of the client, team, etc. This will help to depersonalize the conversation. Reiterate your objectives and expectations of your employee and be sure to ask him to share his with you. This will clearly illustrate where you both stand and help to paint a picture of whether or not you both are meeting these expectations and aligning on executing responsibilities.
4. Collaborative action
Once expectations and priorities have been laid out, you can address the issue at hand. Instead of only laying out how you would like this to be corrected, ask your employee how she would go about reaching the same result. If you collaborate on the needed changes, your employee will be more receptive to executing it.
5. Inform and alleviate the unknown
Use this as an opportunity for full disclosure. Be as informative and transparent as possible and answer any questions or concerns your employee might have (as long as you don’t divulge confidential information). This will ensure that your employees will be more comfortable during future one to ones.
6. Check back in
Be sure to check back in with your employee so you can both evaluate the success of the feedback and see if the needed changes have been made.
One last important piece of information… As a manager, you also want to ask for feedback from your associates. Depending on the level of trust in the department, employees may not be open to providing you with their thoughts. Have patience. If no one provides you with feedback initially, use these tips:
Begin with open body language, squaring your shoulders, and keeping eye contact. Then ask, ‘How can I support you better or differently?’ in one-to-one meetings when discussing a specific topic. This will illustrate to your employee that you’re on her team and want to aid her in her success. Once suggestions are made be sure to follow through on them. And most importantly, say thank you for the feedback; do not get defensive or challenge your employees’ ideas, and ask questions to clarify. These easy steps will lead to you to effectively giving and receiving feedback, benefitting your organization as a whole.