It's easier to procrastinate when giving feedback. But this cheats the person who would receive the feedback out of the chance to grow, and everyone on the team pays the price. In order to cultivate leaders your team needs healthy feedback.

Building a culture of healthy feedback is one of the critical roles of a leader. And it begins with how well you, as the leader, give and receive feedback. You set the tone and the pace for feedback. This post will focus on those two aspects exploring the quality and frequency of feedback.

Giving quality feedback

Think about a time when you've said someone gave you "good feedback." What were the characteristics of that feedback? When I think about the quality of feedback, three factors stand out.

1. Growth-focused
2. Honest
3. Specific

Growth focused feedback

When someone gives you feedback, you can tell whether they are trying to build you or tear you down. I would argue that it's no longer feedback if it's the latter. It's an attack. Feedback is focused on building up to help someone grow.

You really can't fake it. People can tell if you're for them.

Sadly feedback systems can be used in many organizations as a weapon for attacking someone. You have to consider this when building a culture of healthy feedback.

This isn't so much about the tone of voice or the words you use. It's about your honest attitude and intent. You really can't fake it. People can tell if you're for them. It's going to show up in your tone, but this is just the outward manifestation of your intent.

It will also show up in the balance of positive and negative feedback. Feedback isn't always negative. I see leaders struggle with consistently giving positive feedback because they focus on all the areas for improvement.

People tend to remember negative experiences over positive ones more easily. This means your team actually needs to receive positive feedback more frequently than negative. Consistently giving positive feedback reinforces that feedback is for the person's good, helping them grow.

But the feedback is first about their growth and secondarily about their output.

Honest and specific feedback

We're going to look at honesty and specificity at the same time. If feedback is vague, people won’t know how to grow from it.

A counterexample might be helpful here. I once received feedback that an anonymous team member thought I didn’t make the right decisions a year before the feedback was given. I’m not trying to be vague; that’s all the info I got. I had no idea what they were talking about or what to do with it. This kind of feedback isn’t worth anyone’s time to give or receive.

When you give feedback, be clear about the situation or behavior you're giving the feedback on. Also, be specific on what was good or bad about it. Remember, you want to focus on their growth, and it's hard to grow from an experience they don't understand.

Most leaders aren't intentionally dishonest, but they tend to fall off to one side or the other. They either overstate and exaggerate to strengthen the power or validity of the feedback, or they understate it to soften the feedback. Like Goldilocks, you want to find the one in the middle that's just right.

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Giving consistent feedback

Many leaders struggle with consistent quality feedback. I define consistency here as both regular and timely. If you establish a cadence of feedback, your team grows more accustomed to it.

You set the tone and the pace for feedback.

Giving frequent feedback means the feedback doesn't build up. Presenting it in small bites makes it easier to metabolize. Minor changes are easier to make.

Consider when you drive straight ahead, you're continually making corrections. However, you don't even notice them because they are so small.

What if your feedback to your team was like this?

The feedback also needs to be timely. You can't wait weeks or months to give it. Give the feedback soon enough for a team member to do something with the input. Consider if you wait to course-correct things drive even further off course and eventually need a more significant correction.

Helping your team thrive

Your team has a shared vision you want to reach together. Feedback is critical to moving ahead together.

If your team isn't sure they're going in the correct direction, they might slow down or stop. Positive feedback affirms that people are aligned to the vision and the process. This confirmation gives your team confidence and frees them to move full steam ahead.

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