Five Types of Feedback
Be Clear on Your Intent Before You Communicate
Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith wrote, “Feedback is a gift that only others can give.” So, if feedback is a gift, why do so many of us struggle with giving and receiving it?
Much of the difficulty people have with feedback is about power. When we give feedback we may actually be trying to control people. When we resist feedback, we may actually be resisting change. To improve the effectiveness of our feedback, it is helpful to get clear on the purpose of that feedback before we give it. Here are five different types of feedback and suggestions for implementing each.
Evaluation Feedback: This type of feedback is probably the most common in the work world. It’s also the least helpful. Evaluation feedback comes at the end of something: the end of the performance year; the end of the week-long class; the end of a project. Sure it’s helpful for us to gauge how we did, and we may use evaluation feedback to improve next time. But why not give and get feedback when we can learn from it in real time?
Real-Time Performance Feedback: This type of feedback generally comes from a boss or someone whose success depends on you. While it may be couched as an observation or something for you to think about, when someone shares performance feedback, he or she intends for you to change your behavior.
When you sense that someone is trying to give performance feedback, it may help you both to get very clear. Try asking, “What exactly would you like me to stop or start doing?” Once you’ve gotten the feedback, make the change!
Fine-Tuning Feedback: This feedback comes from people who think you are generally doing a good job, but see an opportunity for you to get even better by tweaking a behavior or two. One of the best examples of fine-tuning feedback I ever received was from a course participant. She told me she enjoyed my course and then asked if she could share some feedback. She then went on to explain that when I nodded my head while she and others were talking she felt rushed. WOW! This blew me away because I had no idea my behavior was having this negative impact.
The key to fine-tuning feedback is explaining what impact someone’s behavior is having on you. The giver is not necessarily trying to control or change the receiver. By sharing how a behavior is affecting them, they give the receiver the opportunity to change or not.
Feed-Forward Feedback: Goldsmith came up with this one years ago. It means giving people suggestions in advance about how to behave rather than waiting for them to fail and beating them up afterwards. Years ago my husband was about to present to his company’s executive leadership team for the first time. His boss gave him great feed-forward about how to dress, when to speak, how much detail to go into, etc.
Slap-Upside-the-Head Feedback: The person who gives slap-upside-the-head feedback isn’t trying to control you or change you for their sake. They speak up because they know where you want to be and see that you are getting in your own way.
Two years ago, a colleague who is also a great friend sat me down and said, “You are making yourself and others miserable. What’s going on?” This is the kind of feedback that only great friends can give. It consists of observations about you that people share with you because they care about you. In his book, Who’s Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi gives some great examples of this feedback along with the assertion that we all desperately need people in our lives who care enough to give it.
Summary
Feedback Givers: Before you give feedback, think through your intention and the type of feedback that fits best. Remember that if you are not in a position of authority, evaluation feedback is not appropriate. You can lead a horse to water …
Feedback Receivers: We all suffer from a lack of self-awareness at times and feedback is the only way we can learn what our blind spots are. Even when you don’t agree with it, view feedback as a gift. If it’s evaluation or performance feedback, you have a chance to change in order to do better in the eyes of others. If it’s fine-tuning or slap-upside-the-head feedback, you have the choice to change or not.
_____________________________________________
Reprint/Reuse Policy:
You have permission to use this article in your newsletter, publications, or on your website. Please:
1. Let us know when and how you are using the article via email.
2. Link back to this article via a hyperlink.
3. Place the following statement at the end of the article:
