Resource Guide: Effectively Communicating and Receiving Feedback

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June 11, 2009 - Dennis F. Lekan, Ed.D., CMF

Introduction

Feedback is critical to measuring individual, team and organizational performance. Indeed, it is often said that the only thing worse than bad news is no news.^i. Timely and accurate feedback is critical not only to measuring your progress, but also to obtaining additional resources and modifying your approach.^ii.

“Feedback” is “objective information about individual or collective performance.”^iii. Objective information includes such quantifiable data as number of projects completed, days away from work and customers satisfied, whereas subjective feedback might include a comment such as, “you’re doing a poor job.”^iv.

Feedback serves essentially two functions for the person receiving it: instructional and motivational.^v. Feedback is instructional when it teaches a new behavior or clarifies a role.^vi. Informing an employee about the proper method of booking a line-item on a balance sheet is an example of instructional feedback.^vii. Feedback is motivational when it rewards or promises a reward.^viii. Informing an employee that a significant project she has worked on has just been completed is a form of motivational feedback.^ix. Specific goals and specific feedback are key factors in delivering effective motivational feedback.^x.

Communicating Feedback – Establishing Trust & Open Dialogue

When communicating feedback, it is critical that the person communicating the feedback carefully consider the point of view of the individual receiving the feedback. “Upon receiving feedback, people cognitively evaluate factors such as its accuracy, the credibility of the source, the fairness of the system (e.g., performance appraisal system), their performance-reward expectancies, and the reasonableness of the standards.”^xi. Clearly, feedback that does not satisfy one or more of these standards will be discounted or rejected.^xii.

In light of these considerations, a successful leader must create and nurture an organizational climate that is conducive to communicating meaningful feedback. A climate built upon mutual trust and open dialogue will ensure that feedback communicated to employees is accepted as credible and based upon rational factors.

Trust is a cornerstone of successful leadership and management. “Trusting relationships are established and sustained by each party’s willingness to appreciate the other’s needs.”^xiii. Generally, people will trust a leader if four conditions are met: (1) The leader is clear about expectations, intentions and agendas; (2) People believe what the leader says; (3) People believe the leader understands their interests; and (4) People believe the leader will protect their interests.^xiv. Accordingly, the recipe for building trust is fairly straightforward – set clear expectations; establish credibility by what you say and do; display an understanding of people’s interests and protect those interests. Of course, a host of other factors contribute to establishing trust as well, and the process of building trust and credibility can take time and significant effort.

A climate that fosters open dialogue is a by-product of trust between a leader and his or her team. With trust, open dialogue is critical to communicating feedback effectively. Much like building trust, fostering open dialogue is a complex process that occurs over time. From the leader’s perspective, factors essential to fostering open dialogue include:

• Creating open channels of communication
• Keeping others well informed on a regular basis
• Expressing ideas clearly and concisely
• Promoting frank discussion of tough issues
• Expressing opinions without intimidating others
• Listening carefully to input and feedback
• Asking questions to clarify ambiguous messages
• Encouraging others to express contrary views
• Exhibiting nonverbal behaviors that show receptivity to others’ ideas.^xv.

 

Key Principles & Techniques for Communicating Feedback to Others

In light of the considerations noted above, including establishing a climate of trust and open dialogue, following are key principles and accompanying techniques for successfully communicating feedback.^xvi.

• Purpose:
• Understand and clearly communicate the purpose of the feedback.
• View feedback as an opportunity for learning and a process of discovery.
• Rather than trying to persuade, view feedback as an opportunity to promote mutual understanding.
• Seek an understanding of the other person’s intentions in the situation. Ask what the person intended to do and what feedback the person might provide herself under the circumstances.
• Tone / Style:
• Promote a dialogue rather than a lecture or one-sided conversation.
• Seek a collaborative solution rather than simply providing advice. Form a partnership to address problems.
• Engage in “perspective taking” or “role reversal” to understand how the person receiving the feedback might view the information being communicated.
• Avoid competing with or trying to convince the other person that you are right.
• Emphasize description rather than evaluation. Describe what has been observed before offering judgment or critique. Use “I” statements.
• Keep judgments tentative and maintain an “open door” to dialogue.
• Feedback should be relevant but not comprehensive – avoid overloading the person with facts and information.
• Provide a positive outlet – reinforce positive actions and invite the possibility of change.
• Invite the person to present feedback on the situation.
• Read peoples’ nonverbal cues to understand whether you need to elaborate, provide support, or allow them to process feelings and reactions.
• Facts:
• Use accurate, factual and credible information as the basis for feedback. Focus on specific, observable and documented performance, behaviors, and situations. Describe the facts of a particular situation, documenting the “who, what, where and when” with specifics.
• Avoid discussion of personality traits or characteristics.
• Relate feedback to existing performance goals and clearly communicated expectations.
• Focus on behaviors that the person can change.
• Provide positive feedback for improvements, not just final results.
• Timing:
• Provide feedback regularly and as soon as possible following a specific incident or event to maximize its effectiveness.
• Direct feedback to the present rather than the past.

 

This list of principles and techniques can be summarized even further into a core set of values for communicating feedback to others. In order to ensure that the feedback process is maximized, be sure that feedback is timely, relevant to performance goals, focused on performance and behaviors rather than personalities, and based upon accurate, credible information.

Seeking Feedback from Others

A successful leader strives for continuous improvement. A key aspect of improvement is accurate self-assessment, and a critical aspect of any self-assessment is feedback from one’s managers, peers, subordinates and customers.

Following are general suggestions for seeking constructive feedback from others.

• Seek feedback from your manager regularly. Ask for specific comments, suggestions, and feedback in areas you are attempting to improve.
• When your boss gives little feedback or feedback that is too general, ask specific questions: How did the new agenda work? What do you think I did better in the presentation? How could I improve?
• Encourage your employees and peers to provide feedback. Ask them how you can be more effective in your job. Also ask what you might change to help them be more effective in their jobs.
• Solicit feedback at the end of projects. Ask others what you did that was effective and not effective. Decide how you’d like to do things differently the next time. Ask people to observe you in this specific area on a future project and provide you with additional feedback.
• When someone gives you vague feedback, either positive or negative (for example, ‘nice job’), ask for specifics.
• Express your appreciation to those who give you feedback. Then put relevant feedback to visible use. If others see that you act on the feedback you receive, they will be more willing to give you constructive, honest feedback in the future.
• Obtain comprehensive feedback on your skills using multi-rater or 360-degree feedback.
• How you ask for feedback can determine whether you receive honest, useful information. Tell people why you’re asking and what you intend to do with the information. Make sure your tone of voice and body language convey your sincerity and your desire to put the information to good use.
• When you solicit feedback, ask specific questions so people can give you relevant answers. Examples include:

• How would you describe my leadership style?
• What do you think I do particularly well? What areas do I need to develop?
• Think of situations in which you observed my behavior and performance. What can I do more effectively (for example, motivate others, manage meetings or groups, coach coworkers, delegate, handle crises)?
• What could I do to influence people more effectively?

• Seek constructive criticism instead of waiting for others to give it to you. More often than not, people are reluctant to provide negative or controversial information. You need to solicit this information.
• Guard against asking too many follow-up questions at one time, especially “why” questions. People may perceive your behavior as defensive instead of inquisitive.^xvii.

 

Responding to Feedback from Others

“Feedback, especially constructive or negative feedback, can evoke an automatically defensive response.”^xviii. A defensive response not only can inhibit you from learning from the feedback but also can cause others to be reluctant to offer you honest feedback in the future.^xix. The following suggestions may be helpful in responding positively to feedback from others:

• Avoid being defensive in response to feedback. Avoid arguing with or debating the person providing the feedback. Avoid attempting to explain the actions your feedback provider is describing.
• Listen actively to the feedback. Techniques for active listening include paraphrasing what the other person is saying, asking non-evaluative clarifying questions to increase understanding, and using appropriate nonverbal cues.
• Ask specific follow-up questions to gain additional information, focusing on areas in which you are trying to improve and being careful not to make the feedback provider uncomfortable.
• Avoid seeking feedback at a time when you are emotionally upset with the situation or the person providing the feedback, or if you do not intend to act on the feedback.
• Seek feedback from trusted colleagues as to whether your responses to feedback are defensive.
• Engage in perspective-taking or role reversal – try to understand the perspective of the person providing the feedback.
• Insist on valid feedback. Valid feedback addresses behaviors, is timely, and is specific.
• Communicate clearly how you think and feel about the feedback.
• Welcome the feedback as an opportunity to improve.
• Seek constructive changes to the behavior that prompted the feedback.^xx.

 

There are times when different people provide you with conflicting feedback. Consider the following suggestions in understanding how to reconcile conflicting feedback:

• Assess the degree to which you behave differently in different situations, and whether the people who provided you with feedback interact with you in different contexts.
• Consider the different personalities of the people who provided you with feedback and how their personalities might affect their perspectives.
• Sort conflicting feedback into areas that you understand and areas that you do not understand. For example, you may be able to connect your team’s feedback indicating a desire for more ownership over projects and your manager’s feedback that you need to delegate more effectively.
• Assess whether it is important for you to resolve conflicting feedback through clarification, knowing that you will be expected to act upon the additional information you seek from others.
• Seek assistance from trusted advisors to help interpret the conflicting feedback.^xxi.