Principles of Effective Feedback

Why this conversation is important and useful is its versatility. The principles that will be discussed work perfectly in all areas of our lives. And they bring excellent results everywhere – when used correctly. During trainings, we usually do not recommend practicing public speaking skills on family and friends. But in this matter, on the contrary, we strongly recommend that the principles of effective feedback be introduced and used in your personal life as soon as possible.

The quality of feedback is perhaps the key issue in any training, and, in general, in the development process. Good feedback (for short, feedback) signals in time how well we are moving towards our goal, whether we need to correct the course or change the speed (and perhaps even urgently turn around in the opposite direction and change the type of transport). The OS also affects the goals themselves - they have to be adjusted, or even changed. In a word, the importance of a high-quality OS in our lives can hardly be overestimated - unfortunately, many were unable to achieve what they were capable of due to incorrect OS from their mentors.

Look around - we constantly receive a powerful stream of assessments, criticism, advice, discussions and condemnations of ourselves and our every action. What is splashing in this stream?

Empathy?

The critic's desire to show off his intelligence?

The desire to hurt us?

Intent to put in place?

Indifferent execution of the protocol?

Alas, sometimes even a sincere desire to help resembles the strong friendly embrace of a porcupine - it both pricks and puts a splinter in it. After all, the contexts for the process of transferring knowledge and experience can be very different. Compare: “I’m teaching you - you’re still young and stupid - you’re incompetent and generally worthless” and “you’re learning - you’re striving to become a master - you’re great!” In which of the “wrappers” did you receive your training most often?

Of course, you can learn useful lessons from any touch in life - if you were strong enough to stand on your feet after this touch. And yet, from the point of view of efficiency and speed of learning, it is much better when the OS is given in compliance with certain principles.

So - competent advice, or principles of an effective OS.

1. FRIENDLY.

The most important condition for a person to take your advice is to create a friendly, trusting atmosphere. This is perhaps the fundamental difference between constructive advice and malicious criticism.

Try right now in front of the mirror to make a dissatisfied grimace, stand in a defiant fighting pose and make an aggressive gesture with your hands. So how? I think that the reflection seen in the mirror really wants to respond with the same aggression (and if you tried hard with a grimace, then just run away) - what kind of feedback is that!

An atmosphere of trust and friendliness creates a positive working mood, encourages full disclosure of creative potential, and helps to accept the OS “on its merits” without “bothering” over the possible “secret motives” of its author. Moreover, this is true both for working with other people and for assessing your own performance.

Creating such an atmosphere is sometimes difficult, but almost always necessary!

2. SINCERE.

Sometimes, imbued with the desire to achieve maximum friendliness, we begin to produce an OS that does not quite correspond to reality. Whether it is a desire to please, or a fear of upsetting - the result is sad. A speaker who receives such an OS “in roses” stops developing.

To be effective and help your skill grow, your OS must be honest and sincere. There is no need to remain silent about shortcomings - otherwise a person will never know about them. There is no need to invent non-existent advantages - otherwise a person will not understand what to work on next. A disingenuous OS is pointless because it doesn't fulfill its main purpose.

When talking about this principle at trainings, we always emphasize that it is also important not to be afraid to give your sincere feedback if you work in a group and the feedback from other participants (and even trainers!) does not coincide with your opinion. This is normal, the overall objective picture always consists of many personal SINCERE opinions that do not adjust to one another.

3. PRAISE FIRST! We say we liked it.

During trainings, this is the most passionately supported principle when discussed and the most difficult to implement)))

It would seem so easy to tell a person first of all what he is doing well, to praise him, to rejoice with him! But in real life, for some reason, everything turns out the other way around - is this our mentality, or what?

Why is it so important to start with praise?

The person made a great effort, tried - it is important to note this in order to consolidate positive motivation, to give a positive assessment of the achieved result;

This will strengthen the atmosphere of friendliness and trust in each other, and will help to perceive information about shortcomings more constructively;

The person will know about his strengths ah, about what he can rely on in future work, this will strengthen his confidence in his abilities.

You yourself, paying attention, first of all, to the strengths of the speaker, will have an excellent opportunity to “take” them for yourself, learn to do the same and enrich your “arsenal” of strong techniques, useful habits and witty solutions - excellent material for your Self-Development System !

Add something of your own...

Sometimes during trainings the question arises: what to do if there is nothing to praise for? Inventing something that violates the principle of sincerity? Or immediately criticize, violating the principle of friendliness?

The answer here is simple. Both my colleagues and I, having conducted a considerable number of trainings and seen a very large number of listeners at them, agreed on the opinion that there is always something to praise a person for. No matter how unsuccessful his speech may seem, his performance at work, his answer at a seminar, his attempt to cook dinner... the list goes on.

If you cannot find reasons for praise, it means that there is something wrong with you as an expert, as a coach, as a parent, as a leader... continue the list. This means that you urgently need to work on yourself in this direction.

Regarding praise as the basis for feedback, I’ll share an interesting parable:

“One young, wealthy man bought a beautiful house with a beautiful garden. And his neighbor was an envious man. So envious that every time he did something nasty. And then one fine morning, a young, wealthy man opened the doors of his house, and on the porch he saw a bucket full of slop. He took this bucket, poured out the slop, polished the bucket until it was shiny, went to his garden and filled this bucket with the ripest, most beautiful apples and went to his neighbor. An envious man, seeing his neighbor approaching his house, rejoiced: “Finally, I got him!” and ran to open the doors of his house, hoping for a scandal. But, opening the door, he saw a neighbor who, holding out a bucket full of beautiful apples, said: “He who is rich in what, shares it...”
Friends, I ask you to share apples with each other in your feedback!

By the way, in the reviews, the participants of our trainings said that this principle - first of all, noticing positive things and phenomena around you - gradually turning into a habit, radically changed their system of views on the world around them as a whole. And life became much more joyful, kinder and richer. Try it too!

The conversation about other principles will continue in the next issue. We will discuss

How can one criticize?

How to properly light up your eyes

Why brevity is actually the sister of talent

Who should have the first word?

And other interesting things...

Faithful Words and True Decisions to You!

Vyacheslav Salomasov
Psychologist, coach, business trainer.
Director and leading trainer of the school of public speaking "True Word"
https://vernoeslovo.com/

This is information about a person's past behavior that is communicated to him in the present with the expectation that it will influence his behavior in the future.
Feedback is a key component in employee development. Not only does it help correct employee mistakes before they become habits, but it also reinforces desired behaviors, encourages professional development, and ultimately helps employees achieve their goals.
In order to improve their own effectiveness in the future, people need to have a very precise understanding of how effective they are now. They need specific information about both strengths and areas that need development. Feedback and is the very “mirror”, looking into which people have the opportunity to see themselves, plan their own development and track the progress achieved.

Types and purpose of feedback
Positive Feedback serves to assess the effective behavior of the employee and thereby strengthen this line of human behavior in such situations. In cases of positive feedback, it is said that What it was done well Why it was good and what positive results caused by the employee's actions.

Positive Feedback is a powerful means of motivating employees. It is especially effective when it refers to specific behavior, although general praise also motivates employees and increases their self-confidence. Among other things, positive feedback performs another important function - it tells others that the leader sees and appreciates the contribution of others to the common cause.

Negative Feedback serves to convey an assessment of ineffective behavior and is aimed at changing the employee’s actions. In this case, it is indicated that What was done incorrectly what are the alternatives behavior in this situation and why their result could be better than the result of the actions taken.

As a rule, it is not difficult for a manager see shortcomings in the work of subordinates. Much harder communicate constructively report these shortcomings to subordinates in such a way as to ensure their correction in the future.

Guidelines for giving constructive, positive and negative feedback

Principles of constructive feedback
Specific– describes a specific example of behavior that depends on the person; does not contain sweeping generalizations.
Timely– refers to a recent situation that is still fresh in the minds of you and the other participant in the feedback.
Constructive– suggests behavior options that you would like to see in the future (especially with negative feedback).
With consequences– indicates the consequences of this behavior: how it affects you, others, and the work process.
Developmental– aims to assist in development.

Principles for giving positive feedback to an employee
To make your positive feedback more impactful:

1. When expressing your praise to an employee, highlight a certain aspect of behavior, a specific trend - make it clear what you value most in his actions (for example, meeting deadlines, high productivity, commitment to quality, willingness to work overtime to achieve results).

2. Point out to your subordinate positive consequences his actions. Let him know why you value his success so much and why it is so important to you that he repeats it: talk about the impact that this success will have on you, on your team, on the organization as a whole.

3. Express your feelings - talk about satisfaction, joy or admiration for the actions of your subordinate.

4. Communicate clearly and clearly to the subordinate what behavior he should adhere to in the future.

5. Look for any opportunities to reward the employee for specific positive behaviors. Develop the habit of seeing situations that deserve encouragement. With such support from you for the desired behavior, subordinates will demonstrate it more often.

♦ How often do you praise them?
♦ Do you see the contribution of individuals to overall success?
♦ Do you value this contribution?
♦ Are your praises responsive? concrete achievements or caused by a favorable state of affairs in general, a good mood?

Guidelines for Giving Negative Feedback

To make criticism more constructive and effective, follow these principles:

1. Respect the person's need for confidentiality of criticism. Try to express your comments face to face.

2. Talk about the employee’s behavior (for example, “you delayed making a decision on this issue for two days”), not about his personality (for example, “you are incapable of making decisions and taking responsibility”).

3. Tell the employee about specific facts, avoid generalizations.

4. Indicate specific negative consequences of the subordinate's actions. It is known that in 90% of cases of “ineffective” criticism, bosses get off with general phrases (“decrease in labor productivity,” “decline in morale,” etc.).

5. Personalize your statements - talk about your feelings. The phrase “I was very upset when I found out...” will have a stronger effect than the impersonal exclamation “This is simply unacceptable!”

6. Make comments in a calm manner. Be confident that you are in control and able to describe rather than “vent” your feelings.

7. Be brief - get straight to the point and speak directly. Remember that a person perceives worse when he becomes the object of criticism.

8. Be prepared for the fact that the employee does not immediately recognize the validity of your comments. When faced with criticism, people tend to get defensive, so don't try to get your subordinate's agreement right away. Just tell him your rating and make sure he understands it. Give him a chance to think about your words.

9. Maintain the necessary balance of positive and negative information. Before you make serious comments to an employee, say a few words about the qualities that you value. Beginning with your comments, end the conversation by expressing your overall confidence in your subordinate's ability to succeed.

10. Strive for dialogue, avoid reading lectures. Give the subordinate the opportunity to express his view of the problem

11. Focus on future actions. Do not get hung up on finding out the reasons for the mistakes made - this will only force the subordinate to look for new excuses. Move quickly to “What will you do to prevent this from happening in the future?”

12. Communicate to your subordinate not only the punishments for bad behavior, but also the benefits of good behavior.

13. At the end of the meeting, ask the subordinate to repeat in his own words what he should do to improve results. This will not only test understanding, but also confirm the subordinate's commitment to improvement.

14. If you are facing a particularly difficult conversation, mentally play out possible scenarios. Think not only about the form in which you will express your comments, but also about what you might hear in response and how you will react to it.

Latest reviews (0)

I shared seven important rules that successful managers use when giving feedback to employees. In this material we will look at several models that allow you to effectively build such a conversation. For convenience, we will use examples.

"Sandwich" of feedback

The most famous model - and widely used. Simple to understand, easy to remember, easy to use.

Description: the developmental feedback block is located between two positive feedback blocks. Hence the name "sandwich". It is used in conversations about setting goals, adjusting results, and developing employees. Typically not used for disciplinary conversations, situations involving violations, failure to fulfill duties, where adjustments to the employee’s behavior are required.

Situation: Sergey, an employee of the sales department, fulfilled the plan according to two indicators (sales volume and number of active customers). However, the target for selling the new product is only 50% achieved.

Example:

Start with a positive assessment. “Sergey, it’s nice to note that this month you were included in the group of the best sellers who fulfilled the sales volume plan by 100%. I see that you had to work hard and establish relationships with many clients - you are also a leader in terms of the number of active clients.” After such words of encouragement, the employee will be ready to discuss areas of work that require improvement.


Discuss what needs improvement and change, and agree on an action plan. “At the same time, there is still room to grow. Pay attention to sales of the new brand. This month you only completed half of what you planned. It is now important for the company to bring this product to market. Let's discuss what you can do to next month improve this indicator." Note that there is no criticism. There is dialogue and constructive discussion.


End the conversation on a positive note. “Great, the plan has been agreed upon, now let’s act. I am sure that with your ability to work with clients, you can handle this task. Remember: if you increase sales of a new brand, you can enter the top three winners in the competition that is currently underway. If you need help, come in."

B.O.F.F.

Description: an abbreviation of the initial letters of the English name of the four stages of the model. Behavior (Behaviour) - Result (Outcome) - Feelings (Feelings) - Future (Future).

Situation: a new employee of the customer service department, Irina, regularly violates the standards of quality service, namely: she does not greet clients, is rude, ignores client requests, does not answer phone calls, and is late during lunch breaks.

Example:

Behavior. Tell Irina your observations about her work. Specifically, in the language of facts, preferably with details, dates of observations. Discuss the reasons. Sometimes it happens that an employee is not fully aware of what is expected of him.


Outcome. Discuss with Irina how her behavior (irritation and rudeness when working with clients, ignoring requests, long absence from work after a break) affects business results, the number of complaints from clients, and the number of Clients served.


Feelings. Talk about how you feel knowing that Irina works this way. You are upset, sad, not very happy, it’s unpleasant for you to realize. Discuss how other employees feel when Irina is away from work for a long time and they have to work with additional workload. By doing this, you will help Irina realize that her behavior is unacceptable.


Future. Discuss with Irina what she can do in the future to eliminate this behavior. It is best to ask questions and get answers from the employee. This will allow her to take responsibility for decisions and actions in the future. At the end of the conversation, agree on specific actions and deadlines - outline an action plan for the future. And it is very advisable to schedule a meeting date at which you will summarize the work on yourself that Irina will do.

Description: Standard - Observation - Result.

Situation: Andrey, an employee of the technical support center, did not respond to a request for troubleshooting from the business development department.

Example:

Standard. Remind the standards that have been set. “For the second year now, our department has had a rapid response standard - any request must be answered within 15 minutes. This does not mean that the fault will necessarily be fixed in these 15 minutes, but our customer will receive a response that the application has been accepted and we have started working.”


Observation. State facts and observations. “On the application that you received yesterday at 10:25 from the business development department, the customer did not receive a response until the beginning of today. The problem has not been resolved: there is still no access to the system.”


Result. Discuss the impact of behavior on the business, team, clients, employee. “As a result, the business development department was forced to postpone negotiations with a major client yesterday; they were unable to obtain the information necessary for preparation. This is an important client for the company, and we have no guarantees that they will not start negotiations with competitors due to our sluggishness.”

It is logical that the next step would be for the employee to make a commitment to change his own behavior.

Description: Successes - Lessons (Learn) - Change (Changes). This feedback model fits well into team work: the work of project groups when summing up final or intermediate results, team meetings.

Situation: The project team has completed the first stage of development of the new system.

Example:

Ask each project team member to list the 2 most important personal accomplishments they achieved during the project, the 1 most important lesson they learned, and the 1 change they needed to make in the second phase of the project. Then let everyone have their say. Make lists and choose the 5 most important achievements, 2 lessons and 1 most important change. The number of items in the list may vary depending on the situation and the size of the project team.

Of course, there are many other ways to build a conversation with an employee. This article provides an overview of the most well-known and successfully used feedback models in practice.

Vladimir Belyaev
Based on materials"B-training"

• Leadership, Management, Company Management

Source: http://www.b17.ru/article/learn_to_give_feedback_to_guide_the/

It is very important for every self-respecting leader to learn how to properly give feedback to subordinates. After all, the success of the company you head will largely depend on this skill. We can say that this skill is the art of praising and scolding one’s students. But, most of all, I would like to focus on how to correctly tell a subordinate about a mistake he has made, about a mistake he has made, so as not to offend or, as they say in Japan, to save his face?

Let's first look at the concept: What is feedback?

In short, this is a certain mechanism for transmitting information, consisting of several questions or proposals from the manager to his employees, from employees to their colleagues and back, in various versions, etc. In any case, this is more of a dialogue than a monologue, although many managers for some reason do not understand this.

Properly providing information to your subordinate in general, and in the form of feedback in particular, is simply necessary.

Why? Yes, if only because the timeliness of this action will motivate your employee to be creative and to take preventive work to avoid mistakes in the future. After all, we all know about the importance and necessity of timely action. And most importantly, correct feedback will help us achieve the desired results in our work!

If you’re going to give employees feedback, then it needs to be done. RIGHT! In no case should you limit yourself to such evaluation categories as “BAD” or “GOOD”. This will clearly not be enough for adequate feedback, in addition, the profit of your company from such a black-and-white approach to solving organizational issues may suffer greatly, and so will the emotional background of employees. In the absence of good feedback in the organization, a kind of “dead” silence sets in, leading to the absence of any interactions in the company.

To establish feedback with staff, you can simply ask three clear questions:

1) What are you already doing?

2) How do you see your work?

3) Do you think it is possible to do this job better and what is needed for this?

●Important! In this block, the main criterion should be positive. There should be no criticism or other negative verbal or non-verbal manifestations. Therefore, you should always start with the good. From what can be noted from the best side.

The next block should be the desire to stimulate the growth of your employee. This means that it makes sense to direct his thoughts towards creativity, towards improving his activities. Give him direction to accelerate and modernize his activities. This is where you can start asking questions: What can be done right now? This will allow your employee to prepare for active action right now.

●Important! If you have to make a comment, then do it constructively, essentially trying to change the person's behavior. Do not criticize his personality under any circumstances. The employee’s personality should be, so to speak, UNTOUCHABLE for you!

We can recommend using the following scheme: «+», «-», «+». It means: PRAISE (+) = SCORING (INDICATE, ACCELERATE, DIRECTION)(-) =PRAISE AGAIN (ENCOURAGE) (+).

The most interesting thing is that it is not necessary to just ask questions; you can, in the same or similar form given above, GIVE feedback to employees, in the form statements:

1) Tell the employee what he did well.

2) Prompt (declare) to him what he can do even better in the process of doing his work.

3) Invite him to do this immediately or recommend the implementation of the process at a certain point in time.

So, if in your leadership you use a similar feedback scheme with subordinates, then they will in no case be offended by you.

Use this and the results will pleasantly surprise you!

Moreover, you will notice significant changes in the motivational sphere of your organization’s employees in the direction that you, as a leader, need.

Use this and the results will pleasantly surprise you!

Feedback is a tool for personnel management and increasing the efficiency of business processes, which must be taken into account in every aspect of any organization. This is a powerful tool of influence, with the help of which information exchange is carried out between the manager and subordinates, and allows the manager to receive up-to-date information about the consequences of management decisions, adjust the work of individual employees and entire departments.

An experienced manager uses feedback in order to achieve maximum interaction efficiency and productivity of his subordinates: he directs their efforts, identifies the causes of failures and low motivation of employees, encourages and inspires. Feedback allows employees to make the necessary adjustments in the process of performing work, and also acts as a powerful motivation factor, contributing to the manifestation of satisfaction with the results of work.

As practice shows, many managers do not attach much importance to how exactly they provide feedback to subordinates, often doing it on the fly. And often high-class experts in their profession, but without managerial knowledge and skills, become managers. It can be difficult for such managers to communicate competently with subordinates.

But feedback should be a natural working tool in daily work.

THE VALUE OF FEEDBACK

Feedback – this is informing the interaction partner about the perception of his activity by others, reactions to it, the results and consequences of this activity; This is the transmission of evaluative or corrective information about an action, event or process to the original or control source.

The need for feedback is natural for any person, be it a top manager or an ordinary employee. Am I doing what the company needs? Right or wrong? Will my efforts be recognized? The lack of feedback, as well as gross violation of the rules for providing it, deprives a person of guidelines in the organization and reduces his desire to work.

For a manager, feedback is a tool that allows you to:

Express recognition to the employee and support his high motivation;

Change the employee’s expectations, assessment and self-esteem;

Increase productivity and performance;

Clarify the goals and clarify the tasks facing the employee;

Understand the reasons for the employee’s undesirable behavior;

Adjust employee behavior and expectations in order to more rationally use the opportunities of the situation;

Target an employee for development in a specific direction;

Develop mutual understanding and mutual trust;

Maintain a positive atmosphere in the organization;

Develop cohesion and teamwork among employees, creating a team approach to work;

Identify that a process or tool does not provide the desired result;

Identify areas requiring modernization, change or development to ensure sustainable growth and progress of the organization;

Determine the level of employee satisfaction with work in the company or team.

As a result of feedback, the manager receives information about the progress of tasks, allowing him to promptly identify and solve emerging organizational problems. He can judge his subordinates (their moods, expectations, abilities, motivation, plans for the near and distant future, assessments, etc.) and how they evaluate the style and quality of management, the personal contribution of managers, their authority and influence on organizational and business processes.

To maintain feedback, the manager requires certain experience and skills in constructively using the information received; implementing appropriate organizational procedures and establishing standards; taking time to provide feedback and reflect on its results; making changes based on feedback.

Common Feedback Mistakes

When providing feedback, managers should avoid the following mistakes:

Unconstructive criticism. Rough and aggressive condemnation of the actions of a subordinate, excessive emotionality, which manifests itself in the form of sarcasm, arrogance, and disrespectful attitude can shake the employee’s self-confidence and undermine his morale. For example, if a manager assigned a subordinate to write a report and was dissatisfied with the result, in this case, instead of direct criticism (“this report does not contain the information I need,” “this needs to be completely redone”), you should ask what, in his opinion, was the goal task, whether the employee managed to achieve it, how the result can be improved. Before moving on to the subject of criticism, recognize certain strengths of the subordinate, his positive contributions and achievements, starting with praise.

Getting personal. A manager must ensure that the feedback he provides to subordinates relates solely to their actions and not to their personal qualities. A manager who makes a negative assessment of an employee's character (say, "You're too harsh") makes that person feel defensive and mentally contradictory. Criticize the person's actions, not the person himself. It’s one thing to say, “You’re a smart, thinking person, but you didn’t act with foresight,” another, “You’re an idiot, you did such a stupid thing!”

Use only common phrases. A manager who provides an employee with feedback in the form (“you are a good leader,” “you have done a serious job,” etc.) may not achieve the desired result. The subordinate might be flattered by the compliment, but it won't give him useful information about what he did right and what needs to be improved.

FEEDBACK RULES

For feedback to be effective, you should not resort to it if you have not prepared for the meeting, if you are in a bad mood, or do not have free time.

Before giving feedback, you need to understand what result you want to get from a conversation with an employee. Then it will be much easier to structure the conversation correctly. Regardless of the purpose of the conversation, it is useful to follow the following rules:

Study all the information about the issue and prepare to provide feedback using the following algorithm. Table 1.

Table 1. Preparing to Provide Feedback

Feedback should be provided in appropriate conditions, in a friendly environment and without external interference.If possible, Prevent interruptions, phone calls, etc.

Feedback should be constructive. Talk first about what is good, what and why is bad, and how it needs to be corrected. Feedback ideally should contain highlighting the strengths in the employee’s activities and behavior and weaknesses - places that require correction, reserves for the employee’s improvement. Talk about what can be changed/added at the action level to achieve a result close to the ideal.

Feedback should be timely and factual.
Give feedback soon after the event you discuss with the employee. You should not conduct a “Debriefing” two or three months ago, this will cause a defensive reaction from the subordinate. Talk about a specific event. For example: You showed up at work at 10:45 today. This is the second time in a week, let's discuss it? But not like this: Do you always sleep until eleven and are always late?

Feedback should be specific, clearly expressed and understandable to your interlocutor. It should contain examples of behavior rather than describe general patterns of behavior.Notuse general phrases and do not use hints.

Discuss events and activities. Not a person.

Maintain a balance between positive and negative evaluation. You should start with the “good” part.

Involve the employee in the discussion and let him speak. It is important for you to know his opinion! Ask your subordinate to give his suggestions. What do you think a Customer who wanted to place an urgent order but couldn’t get through to us at 9:30 will do? What can be done to prevent such situations from happening again?

State your conclusions clearly and record the agreement reached in writing.

Regularly check that agreements are being followed.

Immediately support any positive changes. Get them secured.

Don’t forget to give feedback not only on the outcome of the task, but also during the activity.

Your meetings with employees will be more productive if you start using these rules.

So, developing skills in giving and receiving feedback helps a manager create an atmosphere of mutual trust and openness, which contributes to constructive changes in work.

A leader must remember that with effective communication and constant feedback, there is unlimited potential for improvement in all areas of business and people management.