How to give feedback: 9 rules

Studies have shown : having received constructive feedback, employees work better. If there is no feedback, stress appears: it is difficult to understand whether you are coping well and where to go next. There is a “crisis of recognition” - and there is not just around the corner burnout .

Detailed feedback should be given to the employee at least once every six months. It should be approached responsibly - in order not to discourage the desire to work, but to help solve problems, and even stimulate new achievements. Understood what rules should be followed when giving feedback.

1. Think over the content of the conversation.

Think in advance what, how and in what sequence you want to tell the employee. If you are afraid of missing something during a conversation, make a short feedback plan.
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Perhaps you are worried that you will fall for an employee, because lately he has been working poorly, and you have been nervous a lot. Think over the wording in advance so as not to offend the person during the feedback. Still, the purpose of feedback is not to criticize, but to show mistakes and help prevent them.

Ask for feedback from colleagues with whom he worked closely. Learn how they evaluate his professional skills, problem solving skills. This will allow to better understand how a person copes with work.

2. Inform the employee about the feedback in advance.

Imagine: you just tuned in to work, concentrated, and suddenly you are asked to go to the office of the chief. The urgent task burns, an hour later - an important meeting. Time for feedback, to put it mildly, is not the best.

Employees regard the environment where the feedback can lie in any time, as dangerous: it is not clear whether the day will go according to plan , whether there will be any stress.

Therefore, warn the person in advance that you want to give feedback. The employee plans a day and will be less nervous. In addition, he will reflect, think about his mistakes and successes - this will be useful for conversation. A person will more easily accept feedback, because he will be prepared for it.

3. Give feedback personally

Probably, you heard about such a rule: “Rugay personally, praise publicly”. And if everything is clear with the first part - criticism in the eyes of the team will cause the employee the strongest stress and only distance him from his colleagues, then one can argue with the second. Someone public praise make great nervous.

Give one-on-one feedback, not a group of people, even if you are only going to say good things. The point here is not only that everyone perceives public praise in his own way, but also that the employee also needs to speak out during the feedback. Talking about your problems, asking for advice, asking questions in public is much more difficult than in a face-to-face conversation.

4. Do not attack

Conventionally, people have three “sections” of the brain : “reptilian,” “emotional,” and “logical.” The first is the longest, the last is the youngest, and its battery is the fastest. According to the researchers, it can not function constantly, and most of the time at the helm are the "reptile" and "emotional" sections of the brain. In the first place, everything that a person hears, sees, and senses passes through them.

If you start criticizing an employee from the doorway, he will take your speech as an attack, and he will start defending himself - this will happen instinctively. Even if you give good arguments, the employee will not take your words the way you want: he will have stress.
Therefore, it is important to provide feedback so that it is not perceived as an act of aggression. At the beginning of the conversation, tell the collaborator something neutral, for example, what new happened or will happen in the team. If behind your shoulders a difficult project, tell me that you can finally exhale. So you will create a friendly, trusting atmosphere, and the employee will be ready to calmly and thoughtfully perceive your words, including criticism.

5. Do not rate

Quality feedback is a listing of facts, but not your personal assessment of what happened. Just tell the employee how you see his actions for their part, how they influenced you, the work of the team, the product. And what to do with this information, let the employee decide himself.

Be priceless: the employee's “reptile” section of the brain will not find cause for concern and will feel safe. Only in this state can one calmly ponder the facts and understand what further to work on.

6. Be specific

Share with the person exactly what actions led to the success of the project or failure. If you do not explain this, it will be difficult for him to correct mistakes or repeat an excellent result. So during feedback - you criticize or praise - be specific and take the time to clarify.

7. Show that errors are fixable.

Let the employee understand that mistakes are normal and can be fixed. Do not say that his failures led to terrible consequences. If so, the employee himself understands everything. It is important to understand what to do next and what not to repeat.

The words "you made a lot of mistakes in this quarter, because of what the project suffered" will not help to correct and grow, a person will only blame himself more earnestly. And the wording like “we tried, did not work out yet, but we have everything ahead” helps to calm down and concentrate on how to correct the mistakes.

8. Ask and listen to the interlocutor

You need to speak not only to you, but also to your interlocutor - let him give you feedback too: share experiences, reveal his point of view, ask for advice, or even argue with you. Maybe you do not know something, you have incomplete or erroneous data. It is important to arrange a dialogue in order to better understand each other.

If an employee has made mistakes, do not throw his own guesses at him, but first ask what, in the opinion of the person, the failure had reasons. Ask questions: they will help both you and the employee to understand the problem.

Ask the other person to share his thoughts on the work: what he wants, why he is going through. You will understand the employee better and find out what is needed so that his interest in work does not disappear .

9. Look for solutions to problems together.

Having understood what the problems are, do not rush to offer your solutions and do not give direct instructions. Let the person himself think what is best to do and take responsibility for himself. Making decisions that were not imposed is easier and more enjoyable.

If the employee cannot understand how to deal with the problem, help him: offer a few options, tell me what you would have done in his place. Do not give advice like "pump over and be proactive": they will not help. Offer to perform specific actions: “learn to work with such a framework,” “there will be an idea - tell me about it, and if everything is good, the project’s customer”. The main thing here - do not push.



Make a plan of action, make sure you understand each other correctly. You can even write the agreements in writing, so as not to forget about them.