Feedback.. Please..

After working in corporate world for more than a decade, one thing I realize important is getting proper, timely, constructive and useful feedback. Honestly in past few years I don’t think I received feedback consistently from anybody except my wife. My wife always has feedback about what I say, do, dint say or didn’t doJ . Jokes apart, after amassing decade of experience, managers thinks you know it all. They assume you doing mistakes you are committing deliberately.  

Proper – The feedback should be given in a scheduled meeting so that the person comes prepared to receive it. It has to be done in a closed room where no one can listen to the conversation. It has to be verbal communication. Sending feedback in writing is required for documentation purpose but not adequate to communicate the message. Also giving feedback in front of the team to be strictly avoided.

Timely – Most managers observe the mistakes and wait for performance rating discussion. They would want to use this mistake as a weapon to justify the rating. But if the mistake is done in January, waiting till December conversations is not going to help the individual. He might commit more of the same mistake, assuming he is doing just fine.

Constructive – Lot of managers misunderstand feedback to rebuke. I have seen managers who shout in the name of giving feedback. In an urge to speak-up the mistake to be understood, they shout at the individual. Some managers in an attempt to be too nice, they won’t give any feedback. Neither is appropriate. Intent should be genuine concern on the staff to help him improve. Only constructive feedback explaining what he should have done better is going to help.

Useful – In delivering feedback, the focus should be on the improvement to be brought in, not on the mistake. Sometimes, managers attribute a collective mistake to one individual. As we cannot change the past, the focus should be on improvements to be made in future. 

I know people who have not received quality feedback in years. So if you have a manager who gives you feedback, you consider yourself lucky. Problem with feedback is receiver enters the room expecting praise for all the good stuff he did, giver comes prepared with mistakes committed. A quality feedback would comprise of a mix of acknowledgement, appreciation for the good efforts followed by improvement sought in matters that did not go too well.  Feedback is a luxury. So whenever you are given quality feedback, do not forget to say “Thank you!”.