The Secret to Giving Negative Feedback.
Try these tips.
No one likes giving negative feedback. It is something you would probably prefer to give to someone else to do. I have seen leaders who delegate this process to a third person ill equipped to handle the process and, added to this, not having first-hand experience of the issue to be able to speak with credible knowledge.
Man up (or person up! It’s all part of the leadership role and, depending on how you handle it, will either add to your credibility as a leader or not. Your team will respect you for handling the difficult roles required of you. I think every action or inaction of leadership is role modelling to your team your expected behaviours for them too.
Make an agreed time to meet without interruptions. This is not a conversation to have in passing.
Here’s what I suggest you do before you meet:
- Define clearly in your mind what the issue is. Write it down if necessary. This will help to clarify your thoughts. If you can’t define the behaviours to be modified, then don’t attempt giving the negative feedback.
- Additionally, have a clear objective in your mind of the kind of outcome you want to achieve as a result of the feedback. This may, of course, change as a result of the discussion but always go into a feedback meeting with a desired outcome in your mind.
- Speak in terms of ‘I’ or ‘we’ and not ‘you’. You will be less inclined to blame, which will not be helpful.
- Focus on facts not on impressions or characteristics that have little to do with the issue. This is not an opportunity to put on the table everything that has occurred over time – only concerns related to the one issue. I once worked with a leader who used to keep a book of all problems she perceived with each team member and then brought the book out at Performance Review time and listed them off one after the other! Needless to say, she did not build trust and respect easily.
- Finally the meeting is not for chit chat. Get to the point without discussing the weather or other social niceties first. Be authoritative, direct but calm and relaxed. Come straight to the issue and get right to the point. The message must be given clearly without surrounding it with pillows.
Here’s a process you might like to consider:
- Outline the issue clearly without emotional description. Provide an example that demonstrates the issue, but keep it brief without any lists of endless examples.
- Describe how the problem has affected others, the consequences that have resulted
- Clarify what is at stake – why it is important that the issue is solved.
- Indicate your wish to resolve the issue, to work through what is required to get the issue solved.
- Inquire into his or her views – this is the time to listen, observe and ask questions rather than becoming defensive or building a stronger case.
- Move towards resolution. Where to from here? What are the options? What needs to be done for this to be resolved? Options may need to be discussed and considered but there needs to be an understanding that there will be an agreement that will be resolved.
- Once agreed – document the outcome and make a time to get together in the next few weeks to review how it’s going.
Now it’s your turn. What’s your experience giving or receiving negative feedback? How does your company handle underperformance?
