Giving Negative Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of leadership. Whilst it is always important to give positive feedback without focusing exclusively on the negative, there will nevertheless always come times when negative feedback is required. Because of the propensity of negative feedback to demotivate however, it is necessary to be very careful about the way in which negative feedback is delivered. Use these five tips to give negative feedback during an employee appraisal.

#1. Always be specific and focus on the actual area of negativity
Be information-specific, issue-focused and make sure you base all your feedback on observations and facts. This is so the employee can see for himself, and see that it isn’t just your opinion. The point of feedback is to draw attention to areas of possible improvement. So specificity is the name of the game.

#2: Don’t beat around the bush
Tell him like it is, say what the issue is in a straightforward manner. Don’t leave any room for interpretation. Whilst it is always good to be diplomatic, the message must not get lost in diplomacy.

#3: Avoiding phrases that have the words ‘need to’ in them
For example, don’t tell James he ‘needs to be more careful when working near chemicals’. This implies that he did something wrong but doesn’t tell him what the actual problem is. Be clear about the problem but allow them to see the solution for themselves. Highlight specific actions and explain the issues with them and the more favorable alternatives in the relevant circumstances. Approach the issue with the “what else could you be doing instead of X?” mindset. This allows cooperative deliberation around problem areas which tends to be more effective than “need to” prescriptions.

#4: Don’t mix your messages
While you always need to say what you have to say with respect, words like ‘but’, ‘however’ and ‘although’ makes your employee think that he shouldn’t believe a thing you said before it.

#5: Express concern
A tone of concern shows what you’re talking about is important and adds a certain amount of sincerity to the message. Tones like anger, frustration, disappointment, and the ever-popular sarcasm tend to colour the language of the message. And this often turns negative feedback into criticism which stops being helpful in the manner it needs to be. The fundamental precondition for feedback to be helpful is that it must be based in a concern for the betterment of the person receiving the feedback.

So now you know how to turn negative feedback into something that will help your employee improve your business… Do you know how to carry out the most effective performance reviews?