Providing Feedback to Employees

First, ask yourself...
Would you like to get better outcomes from the feedback you provide to others?

Providing constructive feedback to someone at work can help facilitate important change, and have a tremendous impact on their future performance. But if certain steps in the feedback process are not correctly followed, we run the risk of providing ineffective feedback, which will prevent us from experiencing the outcome we desire.

The first step for providing effective feedback is to share your desire to provide the feedback. This step is quite simple to perform, yet often overlooked. An example of this is, "Dan, I would like to talk to you about your presentation yesterday. Do you have a couple of minutes right now?"

When you let the other party know that feedback is coming, it will prepare them (possibly for some constructive comments) and they will be less likely to be defensive. It's also important to understand that "right this second" is not always the best time for someone to hear the feedback you are about to provide to them. They might be busy, angry, tired, upset, or distracted at that given moment - all things that could cause your words to go in one ear and out the other. Prefacing your comments by asking if this is a good time allows them to let you know if there might be a better time to talk - a time when they will be in a better place to listen, give you their full attention, and truly understand your message and intent.