1. Choose the Right Moment: Deliver feedback privately and appropriately to ensure it is well-received. Avoid providing feedback when emotions are high.
2. Be Direct and Specific: Clearly state the employee’s shortcomings without sandwiching them between excessive positive comments, which may dilute the message.
3. Use Optimistic Language: Frame feedback positively, focusing on growth and future improvement to encourage a more receptive and action-oriented response.
4. Balanced Approach: Don’t focus only on the negative aspects and make the employee feel defensive.
5. Encourage Dialogue: Allow employees to share their perspectives and listen actively. This can provide valuable insights and foster a constructive conversation.
Giving feedback is a crucial managerial responsibility, which, when done correctly, can help to enhance employee engagement and motivation. While most find it easy to offer positive feedback to the employees, they often feel challenged to provide negative feedback.
Hence, it is unsurprising, as providing negative feedback often makes managers feel like they are wading into extremely delicate territory.
They are not sure about the impact of such corrective feedback on the employees and their motivation.
Most managers feel that negative feedback will demotivate employees and may eventually lead them to exit.
Here are a few practical tips to give negative feedback to employees that would help managers:
Such fears of managers are often caused by the fact that most tend to offer negative feedback without much thought or preparation.
While most employees are willing to receive constructive feedback, it must be delivered appropriately for the desired outcomes.
If delivered inappropriately, employees would be less receptive to even constructive criticism. On the other hand, correctly delivered negative feedback can be a potent tool for personal development and performance improvement.
Most managers are unsure of the best way to deliver negative feedback effectively.
Here are five practical tips that can help managers turn this seemingly tricky situation into a favorable one:
Choosing the right moment to give constructive feedback is of utmost importance. Managers should let off their initial negative emotions toward the employee before giving feedback.
Ensuring that the managers hold such conversations privately and one-on-one is also essential. Highlighting their concerns logically before the employee is the key to turning the conversation positive and achieving the desired outcomes.
The best way to deliver negative feedback is by sandwiching it between positive comments about the employee. However, this may result in the employee completely ignoring the corrective feedback and focusing only on the positive comments.
So rather than beating around the bush, the manager should detail the employee’s shortcomings directly. This ensures that the employee fully understands the outcomes of their performance assessment and the corrective actions to be taken.
The choice and tone of words to deliver negative feedback can significantly impact how the employee perceives it. Using language that reflects optimism and a sense of belief in the employees is more likely to provide positive results.
The manager should focus on the employee’s achievements rather than their faults and drawbacks. Using growth-oriented language stimulates more significant behavioral changes and makes the employee more inclined toward action.
For example, if you focus more on unit testing, you will spend less time on rework. Your modules will be completed faster.
One prominent mistake managers make when delivering negative feedback during performance assessments is making employees feel defensive. This generally happens when the manager focuses more on the employee’s shortcomings than the observed behavioral drawbacks.
When faced with such direct criticism, employees focus on arguments to counter them rather than understanding the feedback provided. This naturally proves counterproductive.
While giving negative feedback, the manager should provide ample opportunity for the employee to express his/ her views. They should listen clearly to what the employees have to say without interrupting them unless it is necessary.
This simple initiative can significantly enhance the effectiveness of performance management. It will help the manager understand the personal or professional factors that might impact the employee’s performance.
This data can then be used to take corrective measures to improve employee performance and ensure growth and development.
One of the most important things for managers to remember while delivering negative feedback to employees is to reaffirm their confidence in them. The managers should never cast any doubt on the commitment of the employee to his or her job and to the organization.
They should then move the discussion toward a positive outcome despite the negative feedback. Hopefully, these tips for giving negative feedback will be helpful for managers.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in leadership roles at companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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