A Framework for (Game-Changing) Feedback
‘Tis (likely) the time for formal feedback in your organization. And while we're of the mind that feedback is always in season, we also know from decades of working with smart folks at all levels of business that it’s not something they teach you in school. Nor is critiquing direct reports or colleagues easy to do, especially not in a way that is well-received and leads to change. The good news? Feedback is a skill and thus can be learned, practiced, and honed over time.
What makes giving good feedback so hard to do?
Listen, we’re primitive beings in many ways, and are hardwired to perceive feedback as threatening to our sense of community, self, and standing. Knowing that your colleagues could feel defensive or angry makes it challenging to step up and say what needs to be said. This is especially true when there are lines of power - positional, identity, or both - at play.
Secondly, providing feedback requires us to be self-aware: able to see where we have our own areas of growth, and accept that we may be called to task on these - or on our blind spots! - when giving feedback to another person.
And lastly, most of us have had negative experiences providing feedback, if not at work, then certainly in our personal lives. Given this, it takes courage to step up to the plate and provide hard to hear/need to know information to someone at work.
And?
You guessed it - you need to do it anyway. When you don’t give the gift of feedback to your employees, you’re robbing them of the chance to grow. At Agile, we utilize a four-part framework to give “raise the bar” feedback to one another and we coach our clients to do the same.
Here’s how it works -
Image Credit: Agile Talent Consulting
Step 1: Gain Agreement
One of the main reasons feedback is tricky is because of that previously mentioned threat response. When a direct report or colleague’s brain is confronted with unexpected feedback, it hijacks their amygdala (the rational brain part), making it impossible to hear or respond rationally to feedback.
Image: LinkedIn via Rachel Pacheco
To avoid this? Get a quick “micro yes” to give the feedback. For more formal feedback, this could look like, “Does noon next Thursday work for us to sit down for your performance review?” Or to give a quicker critique, try something like, “Do you have a moment to check in on this project?”
Step 2: Share Observations
Feedback is, ideally, not personal. You’re not telling someone they're a terrible human (we hope!); rather, you're providing input on their work or actions. This means that the most effective feedback is shared as observable behaviors - not assumptions - and is followed with an impact statement. The impact piece is key because it’s the “so what” of the feedback. This might sound (simply) like, “When I didn’t receive our client presentation from you on time last week, it meant that I had to scramble to ensure they still received the content we promised them."
Step 3: Ask Questions
This is where the humility part comes in. You don’t know everything - only what you’ve observed - and so now it’s time to find out if what you’re seeing and saying is the full story. Spoiler alert: It likely isn’t! This is the moment to gain your colleague’s perspective and adjust your thinking if necessary. Good questions assume the best and are open-ended to get input. Some examples:
What might I be missing here?
What questions do you have for me about this?
How do you see this situation?
Does this feedback take you by surprise?
Step 4: Create a Plan
Feedback is for naught if it doesn’t result in action or change. Aligning on what this is, and committing to it, is is an important and often overlooked part of the process. In the case of the late presentation, this could be as simple as determining what the plan is to ensure the challenge doesn’t happen again (and owning up to any contributions you have unknowingly made to the situation.)
Want to learn more? Have colleagues or employees who should?
We offer customizable, research-based training for delivering feedback. Grounded in this framework and practice-based learning, it's an excellent offering to align the team on best feedback practices.
