The Top 10 Leadership Strategies for Delivering Feedback to Your Team

Leadership is more than just managing a project - leadership is about connecting with the people on your team, guiding them, and helping them to stay motivated. Your employees need regular and consistent feedback from you so that they can do a good job for you and your company. Employees consistently report that they will decide to either stay with or leave an organization based upon how valued they feel - and in order to feel truly valued, they want your feedback! They want to know how they are doing - what are they doing well, where can they improve. But most managers have a tough time delivering feedback to their employees - even GOOD feedback - with the unhappy result of employees feeling undervalued, unappreciated and unclear as to what is happening and how they are doing. If you are having difficulties with employee retention, it's time to start looking at how you are delivering feedback to your team.

Becoming an expert at delivering feedback requires some special skills, but they are skills that anyone in a position of leadership can learn. And if you are having difficulty applying these skills, think back in your own career to those times where you had managers who gave you regular feedback - and where they didn't - and remember how it felt!

1. Feedback shouldn't happen just once a year. You need to supply it regularly.

When your employees do something great, take a moment to acknowledge them for it right away. If an employee is underperforming, don't wait for the annual review to tell them - tell them at the moment you notice it so that they have an opportunity to correct the behavior. Don't make the assumption that your employees know how you see them - they need to HEAR it, and often!

2. When you DO have to give a scheduled annual review, make sure you treat the employee with the respect he/she deserves.

Every company has its own process for doing appraisals. Don't rush through that process. Set aside enough time so that you and the employee can engage in a dialogue about the person's performance. Be willing to discuss career planning with the employee. YOU may be uncomfortable doing reviews but that is no reason to short-change your employee, rushing them through some valuable feedback they really need to hear and to which they will want to respond.

3. If your company does NOT have a process in place for giving annual performance reviews, create your own.

Many small companies, dot.coms and start-ups often lack a process for doing reviews, or senior management mistakenly thinks there is no need for it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your people CRAVE feedback from you - and frankly, if you aren't willing to give it, both in structured and unstructured ways, your best people will feel unappreciated and will go work for someone who values them enough to give them that feedback. So if your company doesn't provide you with a process, invent your own.

4. Learn the language of effective feedback.

When you give feedback, whether positive or negative, use specific language. Don't just say "Hey, great job in that meeting today, Bob." - this is nice to hear, but will still leave Bob wondering WHAT he did that was so great. Try "Hey Bob, I really want to acknowledge what you said in today's meeting, about how we can improve the bottom line if we...." People want to be acknowledged for specific contributions, not for generally doing a good job.

The same holds true for negative feedback as well. When one of your employees makes a mistake, be direct, be specific. Don't leave them in the dark. If you are afraid to hurt someone's feelings, and need help developing the appropriate language, work with a coach who can guide you in learning these languaging distinctions.

5. Focus on the "what," not the "who."

Don't make it personal. Stay away from remarks that could be construed as criticizing the whole person. To do this, be as specific as possible about WHAT actions were questionable: "Judy, in the meeting today I noticed that you frequently interrupted our VP as she was talking. I realize you had many ideas you wanted to share and you were very enthusiastic, but I wanted to bring to your attention that by interrupting someone in that way, that person will be less open to hearing your ideas no matter how good they may be." Notice how different this sounds than "Judy, what on earth were you THINKING, interrupting our VP like that in the meeting today? Are you crazy? How could you be so stupid?" If you were Judy, which message would get your attention AND allow you to create a shift in how you're behaving, without feeling bad about yourself as a person?

And this is also true if you're telling someone they did something wonderful. Don't just say "Jack, you're really a great guy, everyone's always saying so." Jack may enjoy hearing that, but it's not going to help him monitor his work performance because you haven't told him WHAT he's been doing that everyone thinks is so great. "Jack, you really have a knack for getting to the root of any problem and coming up with really innovative solutions. The customer was telling me today how effective it was when you suggested 'X' as a solution to that system problem they've been having." Now THAT's the kind of feedback Jack will love to hear!

6. Make eye contact.

Whether you have good news or bad news to impart, make eye contact. When you are not willing to look someone in the eyes while delivering feedback, you are sending a signal to that person that they are not important enough to look at directly. It's insulting and condescending. Be respectful enough to make direct eye contact.

7. When you have criticism to deliver, make sure you leave room in the discussion to talk about corrective action.

When an employee makes a mistake or is not working up to the standards you require, you need to be willing to tell them this as soon as you become aware of it. But you also have to be willing to give the person the space and support they need to correct the situation. Depending upon what the situation actually IS, you may need to give the person a day, a week, a month, or longer to turn things around. Communicate that you are going to give them X amount of time and that you are willing to work WITH your employee to develop a plan they can follow.

8. Don't expect your employees to be mind-readers.

In a situation where you are asking an employee to correct some behavior, it is very much OK to ask the employee to take responsibility for suggesting how they think they can improve, but they are also going to be looking for YOU to give them specific directions about what you want and how you want it. Be willing to be in partnership with your employee in developing a corrective plan. When someone has just been given a bad review or bad feedback, it is likely he or she will be very upset and afraid they might lose the job, and they will feel like they need to walk on eggshells around you, but this is really counterproductive. Your job as a leader is to create an environment where every employee can feel successful, so walking on eggshells isn't going to help. If you clearly communicate what you expect AND let your employee know they have your support, they will be able to relax and focus on the tasks at hand. Do hold your employees accountable for their actions, but be willing to give them some guidance and direction if they seem lost or unclear.

9. Remember that communication is a two-way street. You are either contributing to your relationships with your employees or you are contaminating them.

It is your job as the person in leadership to communicate clearly what you expect from the members of your team. If YOUR communication skills are less-than-stellar, your employees won't be much better at it than you are. If you are uncomfortable giving feedback, this is something YOU need to work on. Take some classes or hire a coach to help you. Ask someone you trust who has seen you interacting with your employees if they notice anything you're doing that might be creating barriers to communication. Be willing to examine how you are either contributing to or contaminating your relationships with your employees.

10. Adopt a "coach approach" to delivering feedback.

Coaches are great at giving feedback to their clients because they know how to deliver feedback in a direct, neutral tone. Coaches keep their personal feelings and egos out of it, and focus on giving the feedback in a way that helps the client to create shift in perspective or behavior and become more successful as they work toward a goal. You can adopt the same approach. Take yourself and your own ego out of the loop when you need to deliver feedback. Focus on doing what you need to do to help your employee be successful. THAT is a leader's REAL job - coaching others to successful performance, each and every day.

This piece was originally submitted by Lisa Taylor Huff, PCC, freelance writer and copywriter, success coach, and web designer, who can be reached at Lisa@LisaTaylorHuff.com or visited on the web. The original source is: Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Lisa Taylor Huff. All rights reserved. Please contact author for permission to duplicate or distribute.