I suck at giving feedback. I think it’s secretly because of wanting to be liked and appease everyone.
This could be giving direct feedback to an average employee who’s skating by, or
The other difficult part is giving feedback to a good employee, without “micro-managing” them. It’s a careful balance of “this is what I want” vs “do it this way”.
What’s helped me over time is realizing that the more I defer conversions, the more “debt” I take on. We already have a lot of “debt” through the day-to-day minutiae and stresses. Having those conversions immediately pays off “debt” and we can move on.
I also read an article that gave scientific-based best practices of giving negative feedback. Here they are:
- Do it early morning – People have more mental capability to handle negative news than in the afternoon
- Midweek – Tuesday through Thursday is most effective. “Employees have settled into their work rhythm post-weekend and will have plenty of time to process feedback before the next weekend hits”
- Give more feedback more often – Studies show employees who receive meaningful feedback at least once a week are more engaged
- Feedback soon after an event – Something bad happen? Give the feedback soon after, but once things have settled down, as people are more receiving to it
- 5-10min feedback – Long-winded feedback has shown to not be as well received