Sep
14
Written by:
richard
14/09/2010 15:14
Try to imagine a situation where you receive no feedback on your actions whatsoever; it’s difficult to imagine. You would have to be in some sort of isolation bubble, cut off from any contact with the world outside.
We all need feedback to make sense of how we are impacting the world around us. In reality we receive far more information each moment of each day than we can reasonably cope with, and yet one of the most common concerns employees express is a lack of quality feedback. Many managers feel unskilled or uncomfortable giving feedback and either try to avoid it or end up giving very poor quality feedback that probably does more harm than good.
What is feedback?
Feedback is any communication, verbal or non-verbal, which offers a person some information about how he or she affects situations or others.
It has been said that poor communication accounts for 80% of performance related problems in the workplace. Poor feedback is a significant contributor to this figure.
Why do we need feedback?
Feedback is necessary for growth and change to take place. Feedback allows us to make changes to either improve on what we are doing, or to try a different approach.
A study of the effects of performance feedback on self-confidence, conducted with a group of MBA students, found that those who received no feedback on their work suffered as great a blow to their confidence as those who were criticised.
We all want to know how well we are doing, and in the absence of good quality feedback we will look more closely at any gestures or ambiguous comments and try to interpret what they mean, frequently getting it wrong.
So why do we appear to find giving feedback so difficult?
There is undoubtedly an element of social conditioning; it is not polite to let people know what we really think. Sometimes this is described as ‘British reserve’ and certainly this has its part to play. However the real reason many people find feedback difficult is the perceived amount of risk involved.
Simplistically feedback comes in two types implicit and explicit.
Implicit feedback can be feedback which is unsaid and is given by expressions, gestures, voice tone and other non-verbal signals. It can also be statements that are not clear or contain vague references to the real message. For the feedback to be of any use to the recipient they have to:
a) Recognise that they are receiving feedback
b) Interpret what they think is meant
c) Judge what actions or behaviour may have generated the feedback
An example of implied feedback would be a delegate arriving 15 minutes late for a workshop noticing the trainer looking at his watch. The trainer may think he has sent a message about not being late again. The delegate may have interpreted this completely differently. He may think the trainer is already running behind time so soon into the workshop and is trying to press on.
Implied feedback frequently gives very little real information and therefore is of little real value. However, this lack of any specific information also means that implied feedback is low risk. It avoids any direct communication, reduces the risk of any conflict and deals with the issue in a perceived subtle manner. Of course, in day to day living this often doesn’t matter. In the world of work however it can make a dramatic difference to performance. Managers need to focus on giving explicit feedback.
Explicit feedback gives the recipient some clear information about his effects on others or on performance. The recipient does not have to guess or assume what the feedback means because it has been clearly and specifically described.
In our earlier example the trainer might speak to the delegate during a break and say ‘I am frustrated by your lateness, it makes me think you are not concerned about your work and I feel I have to repeat what you missed’.
The inclusion of more specific information and feelings means that the feedback is of higher value to the recipient but consequently higher risk to the sender.
What can we do to improve the quality of feedback we give and receive?
Get passionate about feedback. High performance individuals and teams intentionally seek out feedback. They want to know how they are doing and how others perceive them. They recognise that this is valuable information. They also give feedback to others knowing the impact it has on performance levels. They know failure to provide feedback results in unclear goals and objectives; fuzzy boundaries around authority levels and role responsibilities.
Provide clear, explicit, unambiguous performance feedback that contains descriptive details about specific actions or behaviours. Finally, position feedback as your opinion because that is really all it is. It is other peoples choice to agree or disagree with your view.