Essential qualities of effective feedback
Parent Post
Andreessen Horowitz
Giving feedback turns out to be the unnatural atomic building block atop which the unnatural skill set of management gets built.
Effective feedback doesn’t assume
Effective feedback doesn’t assume it’s right
Always remember to keep your own ego and emotions in check.
After you’ve given your feedback, ask people questions that show you’re open to understanding what happened and want to nurture a supportive environment.
As a leader, it’s
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to help those you’re working with grow and thrive.
Here are some qualities of effective feedback, which can help your feedback actually help your team.
Effective feedback is about
Effective feedback is about the process, not the person
When providing effective feedback do not let your emotions come into play. It shouldn’t be about the person, but about the action.
Keep it informational. Keep it about the process and what they have the power to change.
Effective feedback is specific,
Effective feedback is specific, timely, meaningful, and candid
- Specific: Feedback should have a clear business focus.
- Timely: Feedback should be offered as close as possible to the action in question.
- Meaningful: Good feedback gives meaningful and actionable suggestions.
- Candid: No matter what your response to a behavior is, you need to be honest or else run the risk of losing the trust of your team.
Effective feedback isn’t afraid
Effective feedback isn’t afraid to be negative
It’s easy to not give feedback because you know it will be taken negatively. But stalling or denying negative feedback ruins the trust you’ve built with teammates.
If you frame a project as a chance to learn and develop skills, your negative feedback will be interpreted in a productive and open-minded manner.
Effective feedback is goal-orientedEffective
Effective feedback is goal-oriented
Effective feedback requires that a person has a goal, takes action to achieve it, and takes goal-oriented information..
Your feedback needs to tie directly into the goals of the person you’re speaking with.
Effective feedback focuses on
Effective feedback focuses on the future
Effective feedback needs to be focused solely on the future and how you can help someone change course to get closer to their end goal.
By doing this, you’re not trying to provide a solution to one problem, but a repeatable solution going forward.