The Power of Effective Feedback in the Workplace

3 tips for Olympic-level performance

Here at BDI, we are just beginning a new fiscal year. Which means it’s everyone’s favorite time – performance review season… not!

Giving and receiving performance feedback can be uncomfortable, and some employees may feel anxious about this time of year. But I’m here to tell you, effective feedback is a GIFT. Ask any professional athlete, like the ones competing at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, and they’ll tell you: Receiving skillful feedback is a cornerstone of their success.

For the Olympian, it could be feedback from their coaches/trainers, mentors, fellow athletes; for those of us in the workplace, it could be feedback from a supervisor/manager or a peer. Skillful feedback allows you and your team to develop high performance habits, align expectations and minimize roadblocks in your work.

Hanna Bankier, founder at Working Solutions Group, a leading consulting firm in the HR space, compared receiving feedback to getting market research from your peers.

Consider these questions:

• What is going well? 
• What needs a tweak? 
• What can you do differently to make a better impact on our team and in our work?

Feedback is a powerful tool that can help you answer all these questions for yourself and your team! The following are some tips on how to incorporate effective feedback into your day-to-day work, not just during the review process.

3 Rules for Effective Feedback

According to Bankier, skillful feedback details the impact on the team/workplace and follows these 3 rules: 

1. It is descriptive 
2. It is actionable 
3. It is understood 

Before giving feedback to your team, consider asking yourself the following: What was positive/negative about this? Why does it matter? If it is redirective feedback, make sure it is also actionable, and that the recipient understands the feedback. 

According to Harvard Business Review, the best ratio of positive feedback to criticism for high-performing teams is 5:1. Positive feedback is very important for high performing teams, but it’s often ineffective.

Let’s say I gave a presentation to a team in my workplace. Since one of my love languages is words of affirmation, hearing “Great job on the presentation, McKennah!” would mean a LOT to me, but I wouldn’t call this effective feedback.

Applying the three rules above, this feedback becomes: 

“Your presentation was comprehensive and insightful. The clear charts and graphs you used to illustrate the data made the complex information much easier to understand (descriptive) so we could come to a decision on next steps for the project (impact).”

If I got feedback like that, I’d think, “Wow, I’ll definitely keep it up, and my team members will probably keep this in mind when they present.” 

Now let’s say my presentation was confusing to the team and didn’t have a clear recommendation or direction. While praise can be done publicly, criticism should be done one-on-one. Before giving redirective feedback, be sure to ask questions and not assume. Then, apply the rules above.

Redirective feedback in this scenario might sound something like this:

“Your presentation was thorough, but some of the sections were a bit unclear, particularly the slides on donor trends (descriptive). The team wasn’t able to make a decision on next steps for the project based on the information provided (impact). To improve clarity, try to simplify the language and visuals, and focus on the potential action plans to give the team more direction (actionable).”

Lastly, check in to make sure your feedback is understood. This can look like observing those I’m speaking to, following up with an email or a meeting – communicating clearly to make sure all parties are on the same page.

Again, feedback is a GIFT! Effective feedback, whether it is positive or redirective, empowers great performance and builds a team of strategic thinking leaders (as well as Olympians!). The ultimate goal is to help you and your team be the best it can be.