Our 10 ways to give feedback efficiently will quickly help you realise the full potential of both you and your employees.

Feedback is an efficient and crucial tool for learning, well-being and further development. It is therefore not surprising that most businesses and relationships need more of it. With the right  culture and forums for open and frequent feedback, you have an optimal starting point for improving relationships and achievements, both individually and collectively. We have collected our best tips to help you provide the most effective feedback to your employees.

What is feedback?

Feedback is information that a person receives about a particular part of his / her behaviour. For feedback to be efficient, it should not be delivered alone – it pays to combine feedback with a consequence, such as positive reinforcement or praise. Without a consequence, the likelihood of change will be less. There are few organisations today that provide enough feedback, and if they provide feedback, this is usually only information.

“Information or data is not feedback – because it does not tell us what behaviour needs to be changed.”

Lack of feedback is the key reason why there is variation in behaviour and the consequential performance amongst employees in a business. Without understanding how one performs, it’s hard to improve performance the next time. By setting clear goals for the individual’s performance, it will be easier to measure and thus see how changes in behaviour have a impact on performance.

10 ways to provide effectual feedback

1. Give specific “how-information»
2. Provide feedback on behaviours that the person can control
3. Give immediate feedback
4. Provide individual feedback
5. Encourage self-monitoring behaviour
6. If self-monitoring isn’t possible, feedback should be collected and delivered by the manager
7. Focus on improvement
8. Make the feedback understandable
9. Visualize the feedback
10. Feedback should be a request for reinforcement

 

What is reinforcement?

When systemising feedback, praise should be used to enhance an activity, response or behaviour. In this case, praise is used as a positive reinforcement because you want more of the current response or behaviour that you are complimenting. On the other hand, feedback can be used to promote a negative boost, as you want less of a response or activity that does not help the employee achieve his goals.

Open and frequent

Open and frequent communication is necessary for teams or individuals to function optimally. Likewise, it is important for managers to receive feedback in order for them to do a good job. Effective feedback has benefits for both the provider and the recipient, as well as the entire organisation. Feedback is an essential part of learning and in many jobs, there is a huge lack of performance feedback. By using effective feedback, it will act as a significant management tool that will lead to behavioural change.

What can an employee do to get feedback?

1. Ask directly “How am I doing?”
2. Then ask “What can I do to enhance my performance?”
3. Have comparable goals

What can a manager do to get feedback?

If a manager is interested in getting feedback from employees, he or she should ask. It can be daunting to ask for feedback, just because the leader does not necessarily like what the employees have to say. It is important to know the purpose of the question beforehand and ask in a way so that employees feel safe to answer honestly and openly.

 

See how our customers starting to use effective feedback as a tool to enhance performance