The article draws on a text from the Management Issues website.
Feedback must always be fully 360-degree
Feedback, especially if negative, should never be presented in isolation or taken out of context. In such cases the employee might see it as unjustified criticism. When giving feedback, always consider the overall context of the situation, always sum up the positives and negatives of the given employee's work, remind them of their successes and of your previous interactions, and only then focus on a specific point.
Explicitly explain the purpose of your giving feedback
You should always explain what you want the employee to take from your feedback. Why are you giving it to them? Do you want them to improve their productivity, to change the methods they use, to focus more on some specific aspects of their work, or do you want simply to praise them or give them extra bonuses? Whatever the reason for the feedback, the employee should be acquainted with it.
Get all the facts straight
When giving feedback, it is crucial you are 100% certain all the given data are correct. Ensure the data and information used to formulate your feedback are accurate and relevant. Avoid making assumptions. Only then can you be sure the feedback will not fall on deaf ears.
Do not give only negative feedback
Avoid giving feedback which is completely negative. Even if you need to solve an urgent problem or a mistake made by the employee, always mention something positive as well. Otherwise, the employee might become antagonistic and stop listening to your arguments.
Agree on further action steps with the employee
Always when giving feedback, you should agree at the end with the given worker on a certain specific plan of what should happen next. This might be just scheduling a follow-up meeting where you will talk about how things have developed, or you can come up with a short to-do list for you and the employee, to be fulfilled within a certain time period.
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