Getting good feedback is necessary for anyone to grow their career, but too many of us end up receiving unhelpful advice that doesn’t mean anything useful. Here are types of feedback you should rethink. Feedback that’s vague and doesn’t give clarity on performance improvement is bad.
“Great job.”
Vague words that aren’t tied to an outcome
- They don’t reinforce behaviors
- In order to turn meaningless feedback into something that will encourage employees to continue to perform, the feedback must be specific
- Give a specific example of what the person did well so that those positive behaviors can be repeated
If you’re in a position to give feedback, recognize that not everyone likes to hear it the same way
Be sensitive to where you deliver it
- Sometimes, the feedback can be right, but still be wrong because of how the message is delivered
- Don’t be afraid to criticize a group when you really intend that message for one person
“I don’t like that.”
Bad criticism stops with what someone did wrong, while good criticism gives them a clear path of what needs to happen differently
- A better method is to be specific about what’s going wrong, or to have the humility to note that the feedback is just an opinion
“You need to work on your attitude.”
Any type of feedback that is focused on the person or personality, and not the work, can be very problematic
- At worst, when job performance feedback is tied to a person’s identity, it can be used to hold their career back
