The Art of Giving Feedback
By: Muhammad Awaid
Tags: Career Advice, Feedback

There is no absolute method for giving feedback. Everyone’s personality is different, and they must be dealt with accordingly. If a team lead truly wants to motivate someone, it is imperative he makes a visible effort to understand him/her from day one. This is an evolutionary process where work relationships develop through constant feedback and interaction. Let’s go through a few tips which can be helpful:

The first “Hello”:

The first meeting sets the tone of the things to follow. It should be solely aimed at understanding the personality of the other person. Some of the key points that can be discussed are:

Family background

Education background

Long term and short-term goals

Previous professional experience

This gives the initial insight which can enable the team lead to identify how should he deliver feedback.

Setting the Goals:

It is very important for the team leads to align the person’s life goals with project goals e.g. if a software engineer wants to work on Cloud technologies, it is imperative the lead sets the goals according to it.

According to a survey by Officevibe, 17% of people thought that the feedback they got was not specific enough for them to improve. This happens when goals are too subjective. One technique of setting the goals is OKRs. As per Wikipedia, “OKRs comprise an objective — a clearly defined goal — and 3–5 key results — specific measures used to track the achievement of that goal”. You can read more about it here.

Frequency of giving Feedback:

As per a survey by Officevibe, 28% of the people were unhappy with the frequency of the feedback. This implies candid feedback should be given as frequently as possible. There are two methods for it:

One to One Meetings: There should be a monthly check-in where the progress of the goals is discussed to ensure the they are on track. Following points should be discussed both from team lead’s and the person’s perspective

Overall feedback of the last month?

Any issues or improvement areas?

Update on progress?

The idea of a one-to-one meeting is to listen and help the person clear obstacles which may be hindering his growth. However, the lead should encourage people to raise issues anytime during the month.

2. Give Critical Feedback right away: If someone makes a critical mistake, a short meeting should be done right away. Do not hold back the feedback for long in such instances, otherwise, it may lose its essence later.

Document Feedback:

Some points get lost in translation when they are discussed verbally. It is important for the team lead to document feedback (what went well and improvement areas) in an email or a performance review system so that they can be tracked in the upcoming meetings.

Final Feedback:

This differs from company to company. Some set goals quarterly and some set them for 6 months. Whatever the frequency, the final evaluation would be very easy if you have been following the tips mentioned above. The person will already know about his progress because of frequent feedback. If a person is surprised by the evaluation, it means the team lead has not been giving feedback often.

It takes years of experience to develop the maturity to say the right things at the right time. The crux is to identify the personality of the person, understand his long term/short term goals, align the project goals with them and then track them often to ensure that both parties are on the same page.