How to give effective feedback

Giving effective, constructive feedback is one of the most important areas of leadership. It is essential for performance management and achieving positive organisational results. Without it, managers are less likely to achieve their goals or meet their targets, and their team members are unable to grow, improve, and develop their careers.

But what does effective feedback look like? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), feedback should be:

• specific
• relevant to the job
• constructive
• credible
• unbiased

“The culture of giving feedback in the workplace as part of performance management is generally viewed as a positive method for improving performance – and there is a lot of research which backs this up,” states the CIPD. “But feedback can also be detrimental to performance if not done in the right way.”

This is why it is so important that leaders and managers understand the different types of feedback, and how best to deliver it at work.

Types of feedback 

Positive feedback

Positive feedback – or praise – is an effective tool for building employee confidence and ensuring people feel appreciated and valued at work. It also helps to reinforce positive behaviours and gives people greater awareness of their strengths.

Negative feedback

Negative feedback can be difficult to give effectively, and can often make employees feel attacked, defensive, and unmotivated. It is a type of feedback that focuses exclusively on mistakes or issues, and many leaders steer clear of it completely on the basis that it rarely leads to improvement.

Constructive criticism

Constructive criticism – sometimes called corrective feedback – is an effective way to deliver negative feedback and successfully address or resolve an issue. It offers a more balanced approach to delivering a critique of an employee’s performance or behaviour, calling on both positive and negative aspects and examples, and focusing on the next steps and actions towards improvement.

There are different schools of thought around constructive criticism. For example, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) states that constructive, negative feedback should be shared: 

• promptly and in private
• clearly and directly
• with suggestions about what the individual can do differently next time, rather than focusing exclusively on what they did wrong.

The CIPD places less importance on the timing of employee feedback – instead stating the “quality of the feedback is much more important than the amount, frequency, or timeliness” of feedback – while Work Life, the online Atlassian publication, places greater emphasis on the mindset of the person giving feedback. For example, it states feedback should not be given if a manager is in a bad mood as it is less likely to be constructive or effective. 

Performance reviews

Performance reviews are regular, scheduled feedback sessions that allow managers and their staff to address what’s going well and what can be improved.

An effective performance review process should harness feedback from a number of people, including co-workers, other colleagues, and relevant stakeholders. Using feedback from these sources, as well as managerial observations and other evidence, the conversation should focus on:

• future goals
• areas for learning and development
• strengths and opportunities for growth
• specific feedback examples, covering both positive or negative performance
• ideas for both personal development and professional development.

Performance reviews should also offer a collaborative, two-way street for feedback. Employees should be able to ask their managers questions, communicate concerns, and get clarification as needed.

Tips for giving effective feedback

Be objective

Effective feedback isn’t subjective – personal feelings shouldn’t enter into it at all. Whether offering good feedback or constructive criticism, it’s important to focus on facts, results, outcomes, and evidence.

Use the most appropriate channel

Consider the best avenue for delivering feedback. If the feedback is praise for a job well done, it may be appropriate to share positive comments in a team meeting. However, if addressing an issue, such as a specific behaviour or poor performance, this is best done in private – and ideally face-to-face. Doing so enables managers to present a reassuring, supportive presence for their employee, such as through relaxed body language, or by answering any follow-up questions quickly in real-time. 

Follow up

After establishing any goals or next steps for improvement, managers and leaders need to check in with their employees to help them stay on track, reach their targets, and provide any additional support they need.

Focus on personal development

It’s important that managers practise what they preach. Just as they encourage people to learn and develop, they also need to make time for training and development. Helpful areas of development that can support effective feedback include:

• Communication skills. Communication is a key part of the feedback process, so it’s useful to expand and improve communication skills to better support positive change. 
• Emotional intelligence. According to LinkedIn, emotional intelligence is crucial in a professional setting, with the capacity for emotional intelligence informing leadership skills and professional culture.
• Active listening. By developing their active listening skills, managers can ensure the feedback conversations are two-sided, which in turns helps employees feel more involved in the process.

The benefits of giving effective feedback

Effective feedback can significantly influence and improve everything from individual behaviours to overall organisational performance. This is because it can be used to:

• create a supportive environment that enables change and success
• develop a culture focused on continuous learning and improvement
• build strong relationships between managers and their direct reports
• provide additional clarity, insight, and perspective
• improve staff and team morale and motivation
• encourage individual autonomy and decision-making
• appropriately address issues and challenges
• eliminate misinterpretation or misunderstandings at work
• successfully address workplace mental health challenges, such as burnout
• increase employee engagement and improve the user experience for customers and clients.

Give effective feedback and take your leadership skills to the next level

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One of the key modules on this MBA focuses on leading and developing people and high-performance teams within an organisational culture. You will also explore workforce planning – including talent management, learning organisations, workforce design, successful planning, and diversity and inclusion – as well as leadership theory and practice, communication, decision making, and strategic workforce planning.