the fear of feedback

In my experience, bringing up the topic of feedback and its importance has caused people to shudder, reverse in to their shells and try to shut down the conversation in the hope that they will never have to give anyone feedback.

My advice is simple, take you head out of the bucket of sand, embrace and encourage the giving and receiving of feedback in the workplace.

However, try to avoid the classic method – you know the one, good news – bad news – good news. Why avoid it, well we have been conditioned over the years to ignore the two positive messages, and just focus on the dread of the bad news in the middle.

There are better options out there so try using these instead:

O – what you Observed

E – the Effect it had

P – Pause to reflect on the feedback

S – work together to find a Solution

Or I was introduced to BEER recently …not the liquid kind, discovered that a long time ago!!

B – describe the Behaviour

E – the Effect if had

E – what you Expect the individual to do

R – what the Result could be if changes are made (positive tone) or if their behaviour continues (negative tone)

One thing to note – feedback doesn’t always have to focus on negative behaviours – its vitally important to give feedback to reinforce positive behaviours too.

Also be mindful of some pitfalls:

·         Do it in a timely manner, not too soon but also don’t leave it a few days

·         Take time to consider the feedback and allow for emotion to be removed

·         Don’t do it in front of everyone if it’s a negative behaviour

·         Only provide feedback on something YOU observed, not what you have been told

The benefits:

·         Smaller problems can be resolved before they become too big

·         It encourages two-way communication and problem solving

·         People will eventually start asking for it, rather than waiting to be given it

·         Supports an open culture of continuous improvement in the workplace

So, ask yourself – what’s stopping you from starting today?