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Making Feedback Less Painful & More Meaningful

Making Feedback Less Painful & More Meaningful

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Types of feedback

Instead of positive and negative feedback, we've renamed these to better reflect its purpose and intention.
  1. Reinforcement feedback (a.k.a. "positive feedback) helps someone become aware of an effective behavior, so they can use it more consciously. This is not the same as cheerleading. Saying "great job!" or "you did great!" doesn't bring awareness to a specific behavior.
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  2. Developmental feedback (a.k.a. "negative feedback) helps someone become aware of a less effective behavior so they can shift and try a more effective one. This is not the same as criticizing. Criticism tells someone what they did wrong, but it doesn't give them the clarity and motivation to improve.

Both reinforcement and developmental feedback are essential to helping someone grow.

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Why is this important for managers?

As a leader, one of the most important things you do is helping the people around you be better. And feedback is the most effective tool in your tool belt.

Delivering feedback can be uncomfortable. But the truth is: feedback isn't meant to be comfortable. It's meant to enable growth, which is almost always uncomfortable.

Withholding feedback is one of the most costly mistakes a manager can make. Fortunately, it's a skill we can all learn through intentional practice.

Examples

Mindy Zhang

Situation:
Shruti, I have some feedback about the Strategic Business Review meeting last week— are you open to hearing it now? 

Behavior:
I noticed that when you speak in the meeting, your points are spot on. But at the end, your voice trails off, and sometimes you say “not sure if that's relevant” or “that’s just my perspective without knowing much.”

Impact:
As a result, your message isn't landing as clearly as it could. What are your thoughts?

Opportunity:
Great reflections, thanks for being so open to my feedback. There’s an opportunity here to practice clear delivery in large meetings. What are some ways you could work on that? How can I support you in this area?

Practice Delivering Feedback

Use The Grand's Feedback Method to deliver reinforcement or developmental feedback to your team member.

Reflection Questions

After practicing giving feedback, reflect on the experience on your own or with another member of The Grand.

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  • Do you give more developmental or reinforcement feedback to your team? For the type of feedback that you give less often, what are some opportunities to give more of it?
  • What did you do to prepare for the feedback conversation?
  • What worked about your feedback delivery?
  • What was tricky or challenging about delivering feedback?
  • What opportunities do you see for your team member to be even more effective?
  • After hearing the feedback, how motivated is your team member to adapt their behavior? How could you further motivate them?
  • How will you know if your feedback has been effective for your team member?
  • What, if anything, would you change the next time you deliver feedback?
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