{"id":43359,"date":"2021-07-26T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=43359"},"modified":"2021-08-02T09:27:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T13:27:40","slug":"giving-employee-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/giving-employee-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Employee Feedback: Tips for Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Looking for advice on giving employee feedback<\/a> but don’t have a lot of time to spare? Why is giving supportive feedback so important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many managers struggle to give good, constructive criticism to their employees outside of performance reviews. Paul Marciano, the author of Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work<\/a><\/em>, says that managers should give feedback immediately rather than months later to improve employee performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tips on how to give employee feedback<\/a> that will help your team members grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Supportive Feedback<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Managers should give employee feedback with the mindset of a coach<\/a>: I want you to be successful<\/strong>. This viewpoint makes employees feel cared for and lowers defensiveness (compared to the situation if the manager were just berating the employee).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

80% of feedback should be positive and reinforce behavior, while 20% should be about improving performance <\/strong>(constructive feedback). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give feedback often. Lack of support signals to the employee that she doesn\u2019t matter much and there\u2019s no hope for her. This can set off a vicious cycle of disengagement and confirmation bias<\/a> by the manager (\u201cI knew Tim was no good — look at how disengaged he is. I\u2019m not going to waste time on him.\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good constructive feedback comes quickly after a problem begins.<\/strong> This wastes fewer resources from suffering the problem and makes it less awkward to point out (as opposed to giving feedback on a problem 6 months earlier).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are giving employee feedback often enough, your performance reviews should not contain any surprises. Some managers give so little feedback, positive or constructive, that employees are left in the dark about how they\u2019re doing. Then in end-of-year reviews, the manager shows up with a problem from 8 months ago. How does this feel fair to the employee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not pile up all the bad news to unleash all at once. Would a coach wait until the season\u2019s over to tell his team how much they could improve? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actionables for Supportive Feedback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n