Giving, and Receiving, Feedback as a Manager

Giving feedback properly is crucial for helping everyone on your team improve and grow within their role. Whether it be the yearly performance review or the weekly one-on-one meeting, regular feedback regarding the employee's performance can give your employees the tools they need to learn valuable skills and be successful. Here are some tips for providing valuable feedback:

• Focus on the facts: Avoid statements that include the words, "always" or, "never," as they can make the other person defensive. Facts and accuracy, rather than absolutes and hyperbole, will help the employee be honest with you, and themselves.
• Validate their feelings: A simple, “I understand what you’re saying” can go a long way. This will hopefully help the employee open up a bit more.
• Avoid the “compliment sandwich”: It’s always best to be direct when you’re giving negative feedback. Telling them they are valued is good reassurance, but other than that, try to be as straight-forward as possible. Positive feedback is welcome when it’s deserved, but explaining the issue and its consequences will set the tone for changing their behavior.
• Practice performance confidentiality: whether the feedback is good or bad, it’s best to keep these feedback discussions private.
• Create a signed plan: This can be signed by the both of you. It can be a commitment for each of you to do certain things that will help improve the problem employee’s performance or behavior. It’s important to offer a collaborative effort in writing so that the employee doesn’t feel like they have to make improvements by themselves. An agreement regarding specific steps, deadlines, and/or desired output will hold everyone accountable.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for the SkillPath webinar, Building Better Team Communication

Of course, you’re not above receiving feedback either. As a manager, you should take time for introspection and ask yourself if there are things you could be doing better. Some things that might be said to you or cause confusion amongst your employees could be:

• Not setting clear expectations: A lack of clear expectations can undermine everyone’s work and create confusion. If they think you want one thing but you actually wanted another, everyone walks away feeling frustrated. Set clear expectations by establishing the appropriate time to show up to work, writing them down, explaining their importance, setting a clear deadline, and/or being open for feedback and questions from employees.
• Not explaining why these expectations are important: Giving clear instructions is only half the battle; without proper motivation, whomever you assigned the work to might not give maximum effort. You might think to yourself that the worry of being fired would be motivation enough, but that is a negative consequence. What positive reinforcement or encouragement can you offer for getting the job done right?
• Dispassionate behavior: If you appear unenthusiastic about the work the team should be doing, the team will pick up on that, and your apathy will translate to a substandard effort from everyone else. The use of sarcasm or flippant dismissal signals that you don’t believe the work matters. Body language is important to monitor here too. It’s impossible to present a positive demeanor 100% of the time, but excessive pessimism specifically related to work can have disastrous results.
• Emotional volatility: When things are going well, everyone loves a manager who’s charismatic and fun, but if you’re just as emotional when things aren’t going well, the lack of a “poker face” will cause other employees to worry and amplify their stress. Employees expect you to be honest and forthcoming during difficult times, but you still need to be able to contain your pessimism and express encouragement. Employees want an optimistic workplace, but they also want to see stability from their leader or manager when things aren't going well.
• Lack of trust: Hovering, or otherwise constantly checking an employee’s work, shows that employee that you don’t think they can complete the job properly. This inability to properly delegate and allow employees to do the work in their own tells the team that you think you’re the only one who can do the work. This leads to employees feeling discouraged and frustrated, and the quality of work will likely suffer because of this.
• Not listening, or dismissing others’ viewpoints: Empathy is perhaps the most crucial emotion a manager can show for their employees. If they come to you with a problem, whether it’s personal or work related, you have to be able to put everything else on pause for a second so you can really hear what they’re saying. If you are distracted while they’re trying to talk to you, or if you outright dismiss their point of view, they will feel disrespected and stressed.

If an employee tells you they feel any of the above things, don't take it as an assault on your character. You might not even realize something you're doing is causing an employee to feel negatively. It takes courage to speak truth to management, so if they have feedback for you, take it as a learning opportunity. Because you hope that the employee does the same when you have feedback for them.