Feedback is a critical skill for leaders and organizations
After many years working as International Rights & Acquisitions Manager for one of the most important publishers in Italy, the word feedback resonated with me a lot with the concepts of criticism and judgment.
And finally, I realized I have been underestimating its role in leading people.
Truth is, giving positive feedback or praise is not that hard.
But knots come to the comb when dealing with negative feedback which, in most cases, seems a risky nightmare.
In fact, most avoid giving it.
It helped me a lot to change perspective on this topic when I came across with my coaching school’s definition of feedback: feedback is a gift.
As a Coach I have learnt that a well given feedback is a gift when:
- It does not judge people nor interpret events
- It is based on facts and behaviours
- It distinguishes between data and opinions
- It shows what is missing, placing emphasis on what can be done better, rather than what went wrong.
Yet, an effective feedback has the amazing power to teach and help us to bridge the gap between our comfort zone and our ideal situation.
It is a compass that guides us towards the achievement of goals, triggering growth or change.
As employer it is important to be aware of the role of feedback in keeping workforce and especially high performers engaged, focused, and motivated.
And this is because sense of progress motivates people exactly as much as recognition and appreciation.
Feedback should be conceived in a way that it can be useful to the person receiving it.
Therefore it ought to be clear and direct, easy to be transformed into practical actions.
It should follow the SBI (Situation Behaviour Impact) sequence in order to be objective:
Situation: describe what happened and when
Behavior: describe without making assumptions the observed action
Impact: explain a reaction (thoughts and feelings) to the behavior
How to move from no feedback to a feedback-rich culture?
It takes great openness, focus, willingness, and awareness either you are giving or receiving feedback.
Giving feedback is a critical skill that everyone should learn since it can be as difficult as receiving it, particularly if the organization is not influenced by a culture of feedback.
To create a culture of feedback start to recognize that feedback is important on all levels of the organization.
Then, design feedback training programs addressed to all organizational roles (from new hires to C-level) in order to be sure everybody is on the same page.
And most importantly always explain why introducing feedback, i.e. the ultimate goal which is always related to performance and workplace relationships improvement.
I have taken great pleasure speaking about these topics at “Work Engagement e Feedback” an online talk with CleverConnect Italy
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