How to effectively give employees feedback

Feedback is a necessary step to help workers improve their job performance. However, results can vary depending on how it is delivered to employees.

How can a manager evaluate an employee’s actions in an effective manner? Below, we go over several techniques that can improve a company’s feedback process and in the process retain and develop quality talent.

People are more likely to be receptive to a management team that treats them as equals. In order to build a rapport with employees, greet them when they get to work in the morning, strike up conversations concerning non-work topics, and praise them when they do a great job.

Be mindful of phrasing

When delivering feedback, use words that engender feelings of belonging, trust, and expectation. By using phrases that affirm the important role they play in the company, that management believes in their ability to do a great job, and that they are expected to aim high with regards to the quality of their work, a manager’s feedback is more likely to be adopted into their routine. This will improve their performance over time, as well as their overall job satisfaction.

Indicate belief in the abilities of the feedback recipient

Emphasize trust in the ability of a worker to not just complete a task, but to do it well. When this is combined with the feedback that is given to an employee, the confidence that results will fuel them through obstacles that might cause those with less mental resilience to slow down or quit.

Belief in an employee creates a desire within them to meet and exceed expectations, as they do not wish to let down their fellow team members.

Deliver it often, and frame it positively

The best time to deliver constructive feedback is as soon as possible, when memory of a relevant action is still fresh. Some companies only brief their employees at set intervals (e.g. once per quarter), long after a specific aspect of an employee’s performance has been forgotten by them.

By resolving to inform a worker of better courses of action on a more frequent basis, they will be able to integrate lessons learned more effectively.

In these meetings, structure advice in positive language. When negative words are used, the feedback recipient gets defensive, as it stimulates a threat response in the recipient’s brain. Positive words stimulate the pleasure centres of their brain, making employees more open to corrective advice.

Having and organized and developed feedback system will not only increase the productivity of a team, it can increase a business valuation.