No matter what industry you're in, as long as you're part of a team giving feedback to others whether on a decision, product or plan is unavoidable. It's also a part of professional communication, teamwork, and leadership skills. Yet very few people can do it well and those that can set them apart quickly become leaders, mentors, and top communicators in their professional sphere.
🎯 Here are 3 ways to make the quality of your feedback awesome:
💡Objective analysis:
Imagine you're presented with a really slow website and must give your feedback on it.
Now compare the below two feedbacks:
❌ Feedback-1: The website is slow, it takes forever to load. Users won't like it.
✅ Feedback-2: The website takes 12 seconds to load. 80% of our users stop visiting sites if it takes over 5 seconds.
The first one just tells me something is bad. the second one answers why it's bad or how we define good or bad. The purpose of any feedback in a professional setting is to help people improve. Usage of objective measurements like time, percentage, money etc shows your analytical ability and helps you take better actions to improve.
💡 Offer a solution or alternate option:
A very good thing to do after giving feedback is to help explore ways to improve it. Let's again check two pieces of feedback:
❌ Feedback-1: This website is just too bad. It needs to be improved.
✅ Feedback-2: I believe trying to improve the website loading time by using techniques X, Y or Z is a good option to explore.
Here the second feedback shows initiative, a problem-solving attitude, and genuine effort behind your feedback. while the first one is the almost perfunctory response.
💡 Say with Empathy:
All professional tasks no matter how poorly done has people's effort in them. So, while giving feedback make sure to show respect, empathy and courtesy. Here's an example:
❌ Feedback-1: This website is slow and low quality, I don't think its even usable.
✅ Feedback-2: I understand that building a website with strict performance requirements is tough and I see a lot of effort behind it. But we can't still put it into operation as it doesn't meet the performance criteria, I believe the responsible personnel can surely come up with a solution with a little more time.
The second feedback shows your acknowledgment of people's effort and your trust in their ability to improve, while the first one shows harsh judgment and a lack of empathy. By acknowledging effort, showing trust, and respect your feedback will both be better received and you'll be seen as a better leader and team player.
In short, when giving feedback be objective and analytical about it, suggest solutions, and acknowledge people's effort behind the work. And always remain respectful.
How else can we make our feedback better? Give your best feedback in the comments.
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