Providing Effective Feedback

It’s all about achieving goals

Context

a culture of effective feedback mechanism in the organization:• ensures an open culture which focuses on issues

and objectives rather than on personality• develops & grows individuals, groups and

organization• creates a culture where people are open to

highlight what’s not working and why not• people are comfortable in bringing bad news.

Modus Operandi

Organization needs to ensure that following feedback channels are established and used• Manager / Coach / Supervisor to team (top down)• Peer Level (lateral)• Team to Manager / employee to supervisor (bottom up)

HR needs to i) create a culture which enables feedback mechanism by

creating support systemii) provide training to all stakeholders on effective feedback

framework

Importance of giving Feedback

A culture of continuous feedback

will ensure:

• Feedback will never become personal in

the company

• Improvement opportunities to

employees on real time basis

• Helps performance improvement of

employees

• A running scorecard which highlights

whether the employee is on track of

achieving objective / goal or has deviated

and to what extent

Costs of not giving feedback:

• Delayed or incomplete tasks

• Ongoing concern of not doing the right

thing

• Lost opportunities

• Discomfort

• Mediocre collaboration, poor

innovation

• Potential impact at workplace

• Broken relationships

Training to Managers on how to provide feedback effectively

• Do you seek feedback?• Do you like receiving feedback?• Do you give feedback?• Do you like giving feedback?• What feelings you go through while giving

feedback?• How will above answers change w.r.t.

improvement/developmental feedback?

The Mental GapA significantly larger number (57%) preferred corrective feedback; only 43% preferred praise/recognition.

When asked what was most helpful in their career, fully 72% said they thought their performance would improve if their managers would provide corrective feedback

Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/your-employees-want-the-negative-feedback-you-hate-to-give/

Focus on issues and not on the person

• Constructive feedback to move forward• Intention is to HELP improve performance• Attack the issue• Pinpoint specific instances• Encourage the other person to share his or her

perspective • Paraphrase and confirm understanding of the other

person’s viewpoint • Acknowledge the person’s feelings, intentions, and

values

Demonstrate Empathy

• Empathy vs. empathic technique• Encouraging and inviting to talk• Paraphrasing• Verbal and non-verbal acknowledgement and acceptance

• Empathic Listening happens at three levels:– Content

• What is being said?– Feelings

• How is the person saying it?– Value

• Why is this important to the speaker?

• Be aware of own and receiver’s emotions

Facilitate to achieve end goal• You and the team reach agreement about:

– What behaviors need to change– How to achieving and assess performance improvement– How/what you as a coach will provide support

• Do not to try solve the problems of others• Assist the team in the problem-solving process

– To identify issue or problem– To look for root causes– To generate solutions and consider consequences– Find value in all ideas– Build on existing ideas– Combine elements to create new alternatives– Move from “either/or” to “yes, and” thinking

Timing , Place, Situation & Delivery• + = public, - = private• Assess readiness• Deliver in timely manner• Describe observable behavior• Focus on performance outcomes, not personality• Balance feedback

– Single vs. sandwich approach; prefer ‘single’ unless context requires ‘sandwich’ approach

• Suggest specific alternatives• Always deliver in person

Common mistakes while delivering feedback

• Delivering feedback when angry• Blaming, accusing, and interpreting• Making personal attacks• Giving feedback that is too gentle or indirect• Avoid ‘Thinking Traps’

• All-or-nothing• Overgeneralization• Catastrophizing• Personalization• Mind-reading• Fortune-telling

• Not dealing With Strong Emotions– Respond with empathy– Allow quiet time for individual

Improvement or Negative Feedback

• A negative feedback becomes an uncomfortable conversation.– We fear having

– We delay as much as possible

– Affects us, making us uncomfortable or even stressed

– We finally have, but can’t wait for it to be over

– Hence either we avoid giving developmental/constructive/negative feedback or rush while

delivering it thereby making it ineffective

• Our preferred ways of having such conversations:– confront/explode

– endure until it is over

– Avoid/ ignore / delay

– have the conversation in your head

– say yes, mean no

• Costs of not giving negative feedback– Feedback not given to improve is like purposely making employees fail

Training to employees on providing and seeking feedback from peers

• Do you seek / give feedback?

• Do you like receiving / giving feedback?

• What feelings you go through while giving / seeking feedback?

• How will above answers change w.r.t. improvement

/developmental feedback?

The Value of Peer Feedback

• Co-workers make up a valuable support system

• Maximum time is spent with colleagues at

workplace

• The manager / supervisor might miss some of

finer details w.r.t. work

• Peer feedback isn’t mandatory but meaningful

Characteristics of providing Negative Feedback effectively

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Issue Specific

Leverage Empathy

Goal orientated

Delivery method

Issue Specific• Address the issue• Highlight specific instances• Encourage the other person to share his or her

perspective on the issue• Feedback should state specific actions the peer took or

specific pieces of their work• Describe observable behavior• Keep feedback RELEVANT

Focus on issues and not on the person

Delivery Method• Assess readiness• Constructive - Feedback should be framed as an opportunity to improve

performance rather than as a “weakness.” • Focus on performance outcomes, not personality• Proactive - Provide feedback proactively, not just when peers request it. • Timely - Give feedback as soon as possible after the action or event.• + = public, - = private• Balance feedback

– Single vs. Sandwich approach; prefer ‘single’ unless context requires ‘sandwich’ approach

• Prefer delivering in person to avoid misinterpretation

Message feedback as constructive or in a positive way

Goal orientated• Discuss

– What behaviors need to change

– How to achieve and assess improvement

– How/what as a colleague will you provide support

• Facilitate in the problem-solving process– To identify issue or problem

– To look for root causes

– To generate solutions and consider consequences

– Find value in all ideas

– Build on existing ideas

– Combine elements to create new alternatives

– Move from “either/or” to “yes, and” thinking

Focus on how to achieve end goal

RECIPROCATE

Receiving Feedback• Be explicit • Be attentive• Be aware • Don’t interrupt• Avoid giving excuses for the feedback• Post feedback, think on feedback

Demonstrate Empathy• Show Empathy

• Encouraging and inviting to talk• Paraphrasing• Verbal and non-verbal acknowledgement and acceptance

• Empathic Listening happens at three levels:– Content

• What is being said?– Feelings

• How is the person saying it?– Value

• Why is this important to the speaker?• Be aware of own and receiver’s emotions

Training to employees on seeking feedback from managers and taking it

proactively

• Feedback is critical in achieving objectives. Do you agree?

• Do you seek feedback?

• How often?

Study says that people seek developmental feedback

A significantly larger number (57%) preferred corrective feedback; only 43% preferred praise/recognition.

When asked what was most helpful in their career, fully 72% said they thought their performance would improve if their managers would provide corrective feedback

Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/your-employees-want-the-negative-feedback-you-hate-to-give/

Managers are uncomfortable in providing feedback; hence a part ownership also is on employee to break the ice, show proactive approach in seeking feedback and act positively to the feedback provided

Remember

• Objective of providing feedback is to let you know if you are on track towards achieving goal like a running scorecard

• It is never on “YOU”• Some people are uncomfortable in giving

feedback.• Focus is on achieving goal.• Take feedback (especially developmental ones) in

positive way

Case study of empathy techniqueAnu just joined Vir’s team in API after working for 3 years in a small services firm. Both Anu and Vir are colleagues. As Vir is tenured in the organization, he is mentoring Anu. After a month, a discussion went like this: Vir: Great. Lets review your code. How do you feel about your code.Anu: I think it great. There are only minor bugsVir: Hmm Hmm. What elseAnu: It ran well except for couple of delays.Vir: Ok. I asked you to get your code checked by peer teamAnu: YesVir: SO what was their feedback.Anu: They said the code was slow.Vir: Do you agree with themAnu: yes, I agree. But its not that critical.Vir: Ok. Lets run it again on server and note the time.Anu: I just ran it, it says 10 secs. Vir: What does the policy say?Anu: It says 4 secs

Vir: Hmm. So do you need to do something or can we leave it like this.Anu: I think its delay of 6 secs, not a big dealVir: ok. If it is on a client server, what impact will happen?Anu: Well, just that response will be slow.Vir: What if it’s a banking client, will it leave something open.Anu: yes, it gives a buffer or 5 secs of open windowVir: What does that mean from security perspectiveAnu: Well open to hack into systemVir: Hmm, great point. So do we still need to action on this?Anu: yes, it’s a critical bug. Infact it’s a blunder from my side.Vir: Hmm. Vir didn’t spoke for 5 mins. There was silence in the room.Vir: I was thinking as to why this point was missed. Can you help me?Anu: I don’t know. (she started crying) There is silence in the room for couple of minutes. Vir puts the water bottle in front of Anu. Vir waited for Anu to get composed.

Activity : Highlight the behaviors of empathy

Case study of empathy technique (contd..)One month later, another discussion on previous points. Vir: I have gone through your code. Did you got the codes run on auto server. Have you got the results?Anu: yes, here is the report.Vir: What does it says.Anu: Well it says that it failed on 8 out of 10 test cases. But my code was right. Vir: Ok. Lets sit and discuss each test cases. After few minutes - Vir: What again can be a reason for missing these test casesAnu: I don’t now why I missed it. Though I wrote test cases as you said, but I missed this one.Vir: Hmm. Did you explored all possible scenarios?Anu: YesVir: Did you explored scenarios on those 8 test cases?Anu: NoVir: Can this be a reason that those 8 scenarios were not explored, hence we failed in those 8 test cases?Anu: YesVir: Hey, why don’t you stay late this evening. I will run a workshop on test cases for you specifically. Anu: Sure.Vir: I have a suggestion, if you agree. Every week you will show me test cases first, I can review for you, then you will write code. That will save some time and will also help you in ensuring that your code is correct from start.Anu: That will be ok

Vir: ok. Lets see what was going through your mind when you were writing the code.Anu: I guess I wanted to write it fast. So I missed it.Vir: Were you aware of this security feature?Anu: yes, I am awareVir: What else can be reason.Anu: I don’t knowVir: Is it possible that while writing the code, you missed looking at other test cases.Anu: It can beVir: Ok. I think you worked hard to write the code. As you said, it has bugs and missed one critical component on security perspective. We should not submit this code to the product team, they will outright reject it. What do you say?Anu: I agreeVir: Can I suggest something?Anu: SureVir: I think that whenever you write code, first write test cases and then keep all test cases in mind while writing the code. That’s how I do it and everyone else here does it. It helps us a lot. Is it ok?Anu: Yeah its ok.Vir: There is nothing wring in giving a try. Is there anything else you can think of?Anu: Lets try your approach

End Note• The best culture is where there is no formal mechanism for giving feedback (do you have a

1X1 setup with your child to give feedback or you give feedback as and when required?)• If such culture doesn’t exists, organization should establish formal mechanism and support

system to create a culture; overtime remove the formal mechanism once culture is established

• Manager to team members feedback (top down) should be the only formal mechanism for providing feedback, rest should be informal

• P2P and bottom up feedback mechanism should be encouraged in informal way / setting. A formal mechanism damages the culture rather than bringing in positive impact. (he gave me bad feedback formally, I will also give bad feedback formally)

• Skip level feedback should never be made formal. It becomes more as an opportunity for employees to complain against their immediate supervisor and the person anchoring the session either ends up ‘justifying the supervisor’ or ‘taking action item that he/she will get back with more details’. Ideally, if there is issue with supervisor, the culture should encourage the employee to immediately escalate as per escalation matrix rather than wait for skip level and then speak in front of all team members

Practice Exercises

Exercise - True / False1. If you can't think of a constructive purpose for giving feedback, don't

give it at all.2. Focus on description rather than judgment3. Focus on observation rather than inference.4. Focus on behavior rather than the person5. Provide a balance of positive and negative feedback6. Feedback overload is good, more feedback the better7. State the constructive purpose of your feedback.8. Describe specifically what you have observed9. Give the other person an opportunity to respond.10. Offer specific suggestions11. Summarize and express your support

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Exercise - True / False1. If you can't think of a constructive purpose for giving feedback, don't

give it at all.2. Focus on description rather than judgment3. Focus on observation rather than inference.4. Focus on behavior rather than the person5. Provide a balance of positive and negative feedback6. Feedback overload is good, more feedback the better7. State the constructive purpose of your feedback.8. Describe specifically what you have observed9. Give the other person an opportunity to respond.10. Offer specific suggestions11. Summarize and express your support

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Exercise – Offering feedback should have which of following

characteristics

1. Realistic2. Specific 3. Timely 4. Descriptive 5. Judgmental6. Comparative 7. Direct8. Positive approach9. Dialogue

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Exercise – Offering feedback should have which of following

characteristics1. Realistic2. Specific 3. Timely 4. Descriptive 5. Judgmental6. Comparative 7. Direct8. Positive approach9. Dialogue

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Exercise – Do’s and Dont’s

12. Provide critical feedback in a public setting

13. Provide direct and specific feedback14. Provide destructive feedback15. Avoid giving feedback16. Assess readiness for feedback17. Deliver feedback when angry18. Be aware of your own reactions19. Blame, accuse or judge20. Assume your interpretations were

correct21. Avoid personal interpretations about

personality or character attributes22. Be specific

1. Be supportive and calm2. Lecture3. Overreact4. Separate intent from impact5. Complain to others6. Be prepared if delivering feedback from

others. 7. Make personal attacks8. Give feedback that is too gentle or

indirect9. Be prompt10. Talk about the behavior, not the person11. Compare one to another

Exercise – Do’s and Dont’s

12. Provide critical feedback in a public setting

13. Provide direct and specific feedback14. Provide destructive feedback15. Avoid giving feedback16. Assess readiness for feedback17. Deliver feedback when angry18. Be aware of your own reactions19. Blame, accuse or judge20. Assume your interpretations were

correct21. Avoid personal interpretations about

personality or character attributes22. Be specific

1. Be supportive and calm2. Lecture3. Overreact4. Separate intent from impact5. Complain to others6. Be prepared if delivering feedback from

others. 7. Make personal attacks8. Give feedback that is too gentle or

indirect9. Be prompt10. Talk about the behavior, not the person11. Compare one to another

Feedback?

Note:• The content in the presentation is based on my experiences• Literature reference:

– HBR– SHRM.org– ‘The hard thing about hard things’ by Ben Horowitz– ‘The Art of Start’ by Guy Kawasaki

• Content is open for debate and discussion vishwadeep.anshu@gmail.com