Regardless of the industry you’re in, you’ll find that every team value positive employee feedback and recognition for their efforts.
If you’re under the impression that employees loath receiving constructive feedback, you’ll be surprised to know that statistics paint a different picture.
Nearly 60% of employees reported their interest in daily or weekly feedback from their employers, while 80% of employees prefer receiving feedback at the moment.
With that said, around 28% of employees receive meaningful feedback at least once per week. A mere 19% receive feedback just once a year or less.
Conversations surrounding criticism often provokes fear in employers, as they feel they may risk offending members of their team and potentially provoke them to quit. Disagreements at work are entirely normal, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with productive feedback.
After all, it will benefit your employee, their colleagues, and your organization as a whole.
Yes, giving constructive employee feedback can be tough no matter how many times you’ve done it in your career, however, don’t let that deter you from continuing to have productive conversations with your team.
Consider this your ultimate guide to giving constructive feedback to your employees.
Embrace Conflict: It’s Not Always a Bad Thing
Conflict can be painfully stressful and anxiety-fueling. In other words, we all want to avoid opposition as much as possible. Unfortunately, conflict will arise, no matter how hard you try to steer clear of it.
Consider conflict an opportunity to learn, grow, and change for the better. We thrive off conflict. In fact, we rely on it to become the best version of ourselves, even in the office.
When disagreements are handled appropriately in the workplace, it can strengthen interpersonal relationships amongst teams, allowing them to work together more smoothly in the long run.
Constructive Feedback Improves Relationships
Throughout your career, you’re bound to run into plenty of conflicts, disagreements, and arguments. When handled appropriately, these interactions can bring colleagues closer together.
Being open and honest with your team about a concern you have exhibits trust, vulnerability, and transparency. Giving your employees constructive feedback shows that you care to steer them in the right direction.
Conflict resolution significantly improves work relationships and establishes a line of trust and understanding.
Constructive Feedback Improves Employee Performance
The primary cause of conflict at work are misunderstandings from ineffective communication. When you address disputes in an appropriate manner, you’re setting clear expectations for your employees that are also realistic.
Your team will perform much better at work when they understand your expectations as their employer.
Know Your Team
When giving constructive feedback, it’s critical to know your audience. In other terms, you need to know how the person on the receiving end will react. Depending on the individual in question, your delivery may need to be modified for their best interest.
There are several online assessments that can help employers identify their communication styles, including Myers-Briggs and DISC.
Have your entire team take a communication style assessment, that way, you can learn how to properly interact with one another and provide the best feedback possible. Aside from this, it can be an excellent team bonding exercise.
Tips for Successfully Giving Constructive Feedback
Observe the following tips that clarify the most effective approach to feedback. In addition, these tips are also great for peer-to-peer interpersonal communications.
- One-on-one meetings: Meet with the recipient of your feedback privately to discuss areas in need of improvement without dealing with distractions or embarrassing them.
- Clarify what you consider to be unacceptable behavior: In your discussion, remind the recipient of specific examples of their behavior that you find inappropriate or unacceptable. These examples should be fairly recent.
- Don’t neglect humility and empathy: To start things off on the right foot, thank the recipient for taking the time to meet with you.
- Clarify your consequences: State what could take place if their behavior continues. Communicate the changes you’d like to see moving forward. In addition to this, try and brainstorm some solutions together. Ask them how you can help them achieve their goals.
- Praise their improvements: Just as you would communicate your concerns, be sure to communicate when you’ve noticed positive changes taking place. This shows your employee that you’ve taken notice of their hard work and dedication.
Practice Giving Feedback on a Regular Basis
Improve your organization’s employee recognition by providing regular feedback, both positive and negative, to your employees. Constructive criticism will benefit your team as much as it will benefit your company.
FRIDAY’s blog always encourages small business owners to improve their organization from the inside out, and it begins with them.
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