Implementing a feedback culture in the company brings a series of benefits to both leaders and followers. This is because, when you know what is happening with your employees, a relationship of trust and well-being is created, which naturally generates more commitment.
In this article, we bring you some tips on how to give good feedback, whether positive or negative. Understand how to put it into practice and start reaping the benefits in your company too.
Why Have a Feedback Culture in the Company?
It is common for employees to keep to themselves thoughts, opinions, and even innovative ideas for fear of being harmed in the work environment. This is because people have a habit of interpreting feedback as criticism. But it shouldn’t be like that.
Having a feedback culture can bring benefits to leaders and followers — they can even evaluate the manager as well, as we will talk about later.
There are many reasons to develop a feedback culture in the company:
- Motivate employees
- Create a more collaborative environment
- Create a relationship of trust between leaders and followers
- Improve the organizational climate
- Having more satisfied employees, reducing turnover
How to give positive and negative feedback making it a good experience?
Now that you know the benefits of having a feedback culture in your company, let’s get to it. See the tips to make with your feedback, whether positive or negative, constitute a good experience.
1. Plan Yourself
Scheduling a meeting with a coworker or a team member without knowing exactly what you want to talk about can be just as uncomfortable as unstructured feedback—it’s like going to the grocery store and forgetting your grocery list. To avoid such a situation, reflect on the need for this conversation and be specific.
You can start by writing down the key points for the development of the conversation and presenting examples of what will be said. Regardless of the intent of the feedback, such as praising or helping to develop some necessary points, having a plan for how you will apply the objective needs to be achieved.
2. Be Honest and Show Empathy
Try to put the person receiving the feedback at ease and explain the real reason for the conversation. This is a great chance to show how much you care and understand people. Good intentions, by the way, are one of the differentials of good feedback, and creating a relationship of trust is essential for the success of any conversation.
3. How to Complete the Feedback?
If only praise is presented in the feedback, you can encourage the receiver about your continuity plans or even encourage him to present the results to the whole team.
The presentation of positive personal experiences, in addition to being motivational, brings team members together and creates space for discussions and exchanges of knowledge that can add a lot of value to the sector. This can even generate opportunities for the creation of new studies, projects, or even constructive actions for the area.
4. What if the Feedback is Constructive?
Like positive feedback, negative, or constructive, feedback must be guided objectively, bluntly. The presentation of evidence can help a lot in this process.
For example: “In the last couple of months I’ve noticed that you’ve fallen short and that you’re more introverted. This has worried me because you tend to always present good results and be more communicative. Can we talk or think together on a plan of action that can change that?”
Do you notice how simple it is to understand and demonstrate that you care about the listener? With this, the chances of positive developments after this conversation will be much greater.
What if I Have to Provide Feedback to My Leader?
This phrase may sound strange to many people. But the practice of giving feedback to leaders is adopted by many companies that invest in a well-developed feedback culture.
Employee evaluation can also contribute to leader development. As in any human relationship, both the team and the leader tend to gain a lot if they are willing to exchange feedback. Together, in addition to evolving as people, they can contribute even more to the development of the business.
One of the main benefits of feedback for the leader is the knowledge of his professional profile through the vision of his followers.
On a day-to-day basis, the leader deals with different types of personalities, but sometimes, he can end up taking the same types of attitudes towards all those he leads, which can make him not reap the best results.
That’s why feedback is so important. In addition to getting to know the team better, seeking to maintain a good relationship, the leader can thus know what their positive and improvement points are according to the opinions of the team members. This is a great strategy for anyone who wants to develop professionally in the area of leadership.
A leader is, above all, a representative of his team. If you are a leader, you can, with the practice of feedback, be even more admired, thus enhancing your skills.