Feedback at work: are you giving it the right way?

#neuroon #leadership #professionallife #work #feedback #personalisedfeedback #empathy #engagement #awareness #selfknowledge #lifepurpose

Feedback is a powerful tool in the corporate world. It can bring employees and their leaders closer together, helping them align expectations about roles and the work being done as a whole, as well as, of course, the company's own expectations.

When feedback is not part of a company's culture, it is not unusual for an employee's productivity to fall, leaving their full potential untapped. This sets off an endless loop of further problems, such as the company struggling to retain talent, impostor syndrome on the employee's part, and so on.

On the other hand, just because feedback is a valuable tool doesn't mean it should be used carelessly. After all, anyone who thinks there is a single standard way of delivering it to an employee is mistaken.

With this in mind, let's look at the differences between positive and negative feedback, as well as formal and informal feedback. Shall we?

Formal feedback vs informal feedback

In formal feedback , the leader invites a team member to a meeting, catch-up or any other setting in which they will discuss performance, results, alignment of expectations, what is going well and what needs to be corrected.

This type of performance review is usually held monthly, quarterly or every six months, taking into account the objectives and targets set for the period.

By contrast, informal feedback is given day to day and, as the name suggests, in a less formal way. Today, a widely used method for delivering it is the one-to-one, a kind of check-in that the leader uses to keep the employee motivated and aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

Positive vs negative feedback

By now we know that feedback can be used both to reinforce and praise an employee's strengths and to point out and correct weaknesses.

With positive feedback, it is best to give the praise in public and/or in front of the rest of the team. After all, this makes the employee feel special and recognised, as well as a point of reference in the area the leader has highlighted or praised.

Negative feedback, by contrast, should be given with care and only to the employee concerned. It is important to make sure it is not misinterpreted by the individual, which could have the opposite effect: discouraging them instead of inspiring them to improve in the area highlighted.

A useful tip here is to always begin a feedback conversation with something positive: a compliment, highlighting something good about that employee. You can then move on to the negative feedback, at which point the employee will be less defensive and more open to hearing and understanding what the leader has to say.

We hope this article leaves you feeling better prepared to give feedback from now on. If you need help developing your leadership potential, don't hesitate to count on our professional methods.