Giving Feedback
A big challenge in business and sometimes in our personal life is being able to give people feedback and make our needs known. As an entrepreneur, it may be feedback to a client, vendor or partner. The end result in either case is to produce an improved result or performance.
According to wikipedia.org, feedback is “a process of sharing observations, concerns and suggestions between persons…with an intention of improving both personal and organizational performance. Negative and positive feedback…imply criticism and praise, respectively.”
While no one likes to be criticized, here are some guidelines to giving feedback which is effective and can be heard and “digested” by the other person.
1. Before you give feedback, ask the person to give feedback on their own performance, their own skills etc. ie “How do you think you did?” or “How do you think that went?”
2. Ask permission to give feedback. If you want to tell someone feedback about their performance or about something they did, say, “May I have your permission to give you some feedback on …” or “Do you mind if I give you some feedback on that?”. This gives them the opportunity to be more open and receptive to what you have to say.
3. Personal and specific feedback is much more effective than general feedback. When you are giving someone constructive feedback, try very hard to make it specific. A good way to frame that is to say:
a. “This is what I liked about what you did.” and,
b. “This is what I wanted more of.”
4. During any conversation, making eye contact makes a person feels like they are being heard. Look them directly in the eye as you are speaking to them and as you hear their response.
5. Feedback is most effective when given frequently.
6. Make sure your feedback is non-judgmental. This will make it “easier to swallow”. Here are some “edible” feedback questions to use in an assessment:
Edible Feedback Questions:
· Ask what worked?
· Ask what didn’t work?
· Ask what they might do differently?
· Offer to give your observations.
· Check for agreement.
If you are managing a project team, you could modify these questions and use them for yourself and team members to evaluate the project. For instance, you plan a marketing event to attract new clients. As a post mortem—you could ask the team:
· What worked?
· What didn’t work?
· What would we do differently?
· How will we measure our success?
As an entrepreneur, giving feedback and creating an environment where feedback is valued and part of your company culture will be an important part of your success.