Feedback is an Under-Appreciated Art Form

If I open my metaphorical kimono (whilst keeping my physical one firmly shut), my job as an analyst and advisor is a weird one. I don’t have a team, a budget, a P&L, products or very big projects to run. In that sense, my job may sound very freewheeling. However, I do get feedback. Lots of feedback. All the time. Every day. From all directions. From colleagues on everything I write. From clients on every single call I have, every presentation I give at an event, every document I publish. I even get feedback on the feedback I give to others. (Sometimes on LinkedIn posts too. And how I stack the dishes in the dishwasher.) I am similarly continually giving feedback to others. I sometimes feel surprised that I don’t get scored for the efficiency and effectiveness of my bathroom breaks. Hence I have become very sensitized to feedback over the last 20 years. How to give and receive feedback well. Here are a few thoughts on giving great feedback: - Be clear about the purpose/ motive of your feedback. Be brutally honest with yourself. The normal transactional assumption is that it is purely to help the recipient’s current work product better and/ or to improve their future capability and work products. You may have other motives, e.g. to position yourself as an expert. As part of this, consider how honest you want to and can be. - Try to be high integrity. Check yourself in terms of tone. Balance kindness with ‘cruel to be kind’-ness. Are you being unnecessarily mean or doing what psychologists call ‘kicking the dog’ (i.e. attacking because you can.)? - Use most of the real estate to show how the recipient could do better, rather than ‘admiring the problem’. - Give positive reinforcement as well as negative criticism where possible. - Couch your feedback in meta-language, e.g. ‘This is already good. I have focused my comments on things that could be better.’ - Consider distinguishing between suggestions you feel are essential (i.e. it is broken without this) versus optional suggestions based on your opinion. - Try to put yourself in the position of the recipient(s). Occupy their world. Use that to tailor your language, tone, content. - Don’t give people more feedback than they can handle in terms of both strength and volume. That is counterproductive. - Make your feedback as clear and actionable as possible. - Try to state your reasons and share evidence where possible. - Consider whether this is a ‘one shot game’ (you will never see them again) or more usually a long-tailed game (you each will work with each other continually, at least for a while.) Long-tailed games don’t always mean being more careful, but they do allow you to adopt a multi-shot feedback strategy. You may not always give all the feedback first time. #unthink #unask #unlearn #communication #feedback