Employee Experience

How to Provide Productive and Effective Feedback in the Workplace?

By Betterworks
September 27, 2016
3 minute read

Giving and receiving feedback in the workplace can be a daunting ordeal–often times, there is room for misinterpretation, negativity, and stress when this feedback is not delivered correctly.  In the modern corporate world, it is becoming ever more important to effectively communicate with your workers and colleagues; the more transparency and understanding there is between a company’s departments and workforce,  the higher the productivity and overall job satisfaction typically is.

Whether you are an executive or not, giving feedback properly is one of the most vital skill sets and can make all the difference in how your teams are functioning. Below we have compiled six key ways to improve how you provide employee feedback!

1. Know When and Where

There is a time and place for everything, especially feedback. The best way to make sure your advice is heard is to first ask permission to give it. If a worker seems stressed or busy, it is never good to provide feedback unannounced and give that worker one more thing to process and respond to. If your advice is important, simply asking, “Hey, I know you’re busy, but mind if I offer you some feedback?” will help mentally prepare your worker to put their work on hold and register whatever it is you are trying to get across.

Where you give your feedback is also vital. If the advice is for an individual, try and deliver it to them alone either in their office space or yours instead of calling someone out in a group setting. If the feedback is casual, feel free to give it in a casual setting, but if it is long and informative, be sure to offer it in a place the worker can sit, take note, and register what is being said.

2. Be Constructive

When it comes to feedback, there is a fine line between helpful and not helpful. In giving critiques, first be sure to address what you’ve noticed and be specific. Instead of saying “You’re not doing enough work,” try to focus on the details you’ve observed, such as “Hey, I noticed your KPI’s haven’t been as good the past two weeks.” Next, offer several solutions to the issue, and ask how they feel about the issue. By providing specific critiques and solutions to these problems, workers respect you more and be able to fix what needs to be fixed.

3. Find the Positives in the Negatives

When you are critiquing your workers, it is important to remain positive even if the message itself is not. Make sure to focus on how they can improve their work, how you believe in them to improve it, and try leaving with a smile and a “Let’s catch up soon to see how this is coming along! You got it.”

4. Give Continuous Feedback

Giving continuous feedback does not mean giving feedback all the time. Rather, it means giving feedback regularly when it is fit so that your employees can continue develop off of previous advice.

Whether you do this through regular face to face check-ins or emails is up to you, but letting your workforce know that you are there to provide support for their work will prove effective in making their work the best possible.

5. Don’t Compare

Last, try to keep the advice unique to the individual receiving it. If you have to communicate comparisons in KPI’s or work in order to relay the message, try to keep that a small portion of your discussion.

Comparing Joe’s work to Anne’s work can be received as negative and might fuel tensions in the workplace even when you are not watching.

To sum it up

By following these five points, you will notice that your feedback is heard and well reacted to. Simply by knowing where and when, being positive, reliable and constructive, and not comparing, you will a more open and communicative corporate culture where feedback is not dreaded! You and your company can learn more on how to receive and give feedback by reading the guide Betterworks Engage has compiled and make your corporate culture the best it can be!


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