Most businesses do year-end check-ups with employees to evaluate their performance and highlight wins and points for improvement. However, there’s no need to wait for the end of the year to evaluate. Regular sessions are better to keep your employees on track with set goals and help them grow along with the company. Below are 7 steps to follow to give constructive feedback for your next one-on-one.
Revisiting Past Experiences
Think about the last time you had a performance review session with your boss. How did it go?
Did you feel like you were being reprimanded throughout the meeting? Or did it help you identify your strengths and use them to push yourself to further improve?
As a leader, you should be striving for the second scenario. Regardless of the nature of the feedback, your goal is to make sure that once your employee walks out of the door, they will be motivated to improve for themselves and the company.
7 Steps on Giving Constructive Feedback
Follow these steps in creating a positive environment for constructive criticism in your team.
1. Set a Date, Time, Location, and Agenda
Rather than abruptly pulling your employee for a feedback session, block a common free time and inform them of the agenda. Letting your employee know in advance not only shows your respect for their time but also enables them to properly prepare. Setting a time frame also lets you stick to a schedule—no one wants a lengthy meeting!
Book a meeting room or simply move to a secluded place for the session. Doing so ensures a more personal environment and freer flow of communication. Your meeting should be between you and your employee only.
2. Encourage Note Taking
Just as you might bring notes with you, encourage employees to bring a pen and paper or a laptop to take notes from your meeting. Make sure that they will retain what you will discuss. After all, this evaluation is for their professional improvement as well.
3. Use the Sandwich Method
The sandwich method refers to putting negative feedback in between two positive ones. This softens the blow to your receiver but still helps you deliver the point across.
Here’s an example:
“I admire your sense of responsibility. Once you are put in charge of a project, I can rest assure that you will follow through, even with minimal supervision.
However, I took notice of your habitual tardiness in the office. It has been going on for a few weeks now, and I hope you are doing steps to prevent it from happening again.
Nonetheless, I and the team appreciate that you update us with your estimated time of arrival when you are running late, especially for meetings. This lets us adjust and work with other things first.”
This example effectively provides negative feedback about habitual tardiness, while still highlighting positive steps that the employee is taking to improve.
4. Be Specific
Once you start giving constructive feedback, cite examples or instances to accurately express your points. This helps your employee recognize patterns of behavior that they may not be aware of.
Let’s say you are commending an employee about their attention to detail. Pinpoint on which exact projects you noticed this trait and maybe even suggest where else they could apply it.
5. Connect With Business Goals
The real goal of measuring performance is to evaluate if business goals are being reached. That being said, some employees might not see the impact their work brings to the company as a whole. As a manager, it is your job to make them realize that each employee directly contributes to the business’ success. Do this by linking short-term goals to their long-term implications.
For example, a customer service representative who spends all day answering queries might not see how their work affects business. In reality, keeping clients satisfied directly affects customer retention and even branding. Letting them realize the huge impact their job contributes to the whole organization can help bring a greater sense of responsibility and job satisfaction.
6. Make it a Two-Way Street
Once you are done giving feedback, be open to questions or suggestions from your employees. Comments may be about your observations, advice, or even about the one-on-one session itself.
Asking and listening to their side helps you, as a manager, see the bigger picture. Being open to feedback also helps you improve yourself professionally. At the same time, it lets your team be more comfortable sharing their thoughts with you. This can translate to greater ideas, a better work environment, and improved performance.
7. Explore Future Steps
Now that both sides have given their feedback, it’s time to discuss future steps. Given that these are the strengths and points for improvement that you’ve uncovered, what can both you and your employee do to get better?
This is giving constructive criticism—discovering strengths and lapses and finding ways to get better.
Follow these 7 steps and create a positive feedback session with your employees. Remember that feedback helps each of us grow. Embrace it and let it guide you and your team towards reaching your professional goals.
Giving constructive feedback is just one step. Here’s how you can further build a positive culture for your business.
