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Summary.
When you enter the workforce, giving feedback, especially negative feedback, to a peer, to a manager, or to a direct report may be one of the most challenging skills you have to build. Here’s some advice from our team members:
- Giving negative feedback to a peer: Don’t catch them off guard. Reach out to them privately to set up a one-on-one meeting and explain what you want to discuss in non-threatening and open way. Frame your feedback as a conversation your want to engage in and not as condescending advice. Focus on the behavior and its impact as opposed to the person.
- Giving negative feedback to a manager: Beforehand, choose what you’re going to focus on, stick to it, and plan to be organized in your delivery. Be timely — you want the conversation to feel relevant. During the conversation thank them for being open to listening, and then state your intention in sharing feedback (keep this productive and positive), what you want to see change, why you want to see it change, and any negative impacts you’ve observed as a result of their actions or behavior. Finally, open the floor of their questions and thoughts.
- Giving negative feedback to a direct report: Go into the conversation as an ally who wants to see your employee succeed. As you present what you see as an area for improvement, reassure your direct report that this is all a learning process. Ask them to respond and then work towards a solution together.
When I was in college, I received a lot of negative feedback. I guess I should’ve expected it. My major was creative writing, and critiquing my peer’s work (and having my work critiqued) was a part of the learning experience. Every few weeks, my professors held hour-long workshopsin which my classmates and I had to sit quietly and listen while others shared their feedback.
Read more on Difficult conversations or related topics Early career, Feedback, Giving feedback and Managing up
Read more on Difficult conversations or related topics Early career, Feedback, Giving feedback and Managing up
