The Impact Of Providing Constructive Criticism

Continuous learning and development are among the most important factors for employee retention and engagement. However, for this process to be successful, a company must have a culture of continuous feedback to drive improvement and performance. While many managers have no problem giving positive feedback, many are hesitant to face the inconvenience and discomfort of giving negative feedback.

This is a shame because feedback is not a punishment and should not be viewed as such. It is a way to make employees aware of their behavior and its impact on the workplace while empowering them to improve. However, using too negative a tone can cause employees to become defensive or dismissive of your words. That's why perfecting the art of giving constructive feedback is so important for development success. This type of feedback is forward-looking and emphasizes incremental improvement to motivate employees rather than discourage them.

Here's how you can use constructive feedback to improve your employees' performance and create a culture of continuous learning.

What is constructive feedback?

Feedback is a spectrum. At one extreme is negative feedback. Negative feedback aims to criticize, punish and prevent certain behavior. On the other side of the spectrum, there is positive feedback, which aims to praise, reward and reinforce good behavior. Both positive and negative feedback are good for reinforcing or discouraging an existing behavior, but neither is good for creating change.

Constructive feedback lies in the middle of the spectrum and aims to correct, encourage and redirect behavior. It is more corrective, future-oriented and motivating in nature. Not only does it tell the employee what behavior or action was good or problematic, but it also explains the unintended or desired outcome of that action.

Give constructive feedback

Giving any type of feedback requires special skills and a high level of emotional intelligence. However, with the right training, anyone can learn to give effective and constructive feedback. We've identified four critical characteristics that can help you or your managers have meaningful performance conversations with your employees.

Here's why you should pay attention to timing, a growth mindset, motivating language, and inviting body language to ensure you deliver feedback effectively:

1.Timing

There is a right time and a wrong time to give feedback. Think about your own experiences. Would you be more open to feedback after a heated meeting where emotions are running high, or in a face-to-face conversation a few hours later? While it's important to give constructive feedback as soon as possible after the behavior, you'll have more success if the recipient is in a better state. Strong emotions can impact a person's ability to process feedback.

It's also important to provide feedback on a regular basis so that your employees don't feel surprised or blindsided during formal performance reviews. Continuous feedback allows them to become aware of a problem and correct it themselves. If you wait too long after an incident to give an employee constructive feedback, you're doing them a disservice because they won't know there's even a problem that needs to be corrected.

2.Growth mindset

Biased feedback can damage trust in the workplace. Managers must ensure they have all the facts, are unbiased, and lead professional development conversations with a growth mindset to successfully provide constructive feedback. Otherwise, employees may feel attacked, increasing the likelihood that they will resist feedback, give up, and be reluctant to set goals.

Developed by American psychologist Carol Dweck, growth mindset is the belief that your intelligence and personality are not fixed and can develop over time. It means that you believe that you are capable of learning, growing and advancing. When managers have a growth mindset, they know their team can grow with investment and are more willing to recognize and explore their employees' potential. When employees have a growth mindset, they are more likely to learn from feedback, solve problems, set more productive goals, and rise to the challenge even in difficult times. Leading learning and development conversations with a growth mindset can motivate employees and encourage them to reach their full potential.

3.Motivational formulations

It's not just what you say that matters. - but also how you say it. Constructive feedback must come from an attitude of curiosity and openness. Judgmental, cohesive, or closed language can alienate a person. The easiest way to ensure that your language is open and inviting to discussion is to swap questions that begin with "has," "is," or "will" for ones that begin with "who," "what " and "how" begin. This way, you can have a two-way conversation that makes your employee feel heard and allows you to better understand their experiences and perspective.

Once you have all the information you need, it's time to provide your clear and actionable constructive feedback. The best formula for this is simple: clearly state the behavior and the negative consequences. Here are two examples:

My feedback to you is to refrain from [behavior] because it leads to [consequence].
I would like to ask you to stop using your laptops in meetings. This gives the impression that you are not engaging and can distract others.

While this wording is simple, it helps the employee know what you expect from them and how their behavior affects others. In some cases, the feedback might be about something the employee wasn't previously aware of. Because this type of confrontation triggers anxiety in some employees, you can flip the wording to encourage employees to engage in new, positive behavior rather than stopping an unfavorable behavior. Here is an example of this approach in action:

I encourage you to start with [action] because it will produce [intended results].
I encourage you to take notes in meetings so that you don't forget the tasks you are given.

Whether you want to encourage your employees to start or stop a specific behavior, these phrases can guide your conversations and ensure you're communicating clearly and effectively with your team.

4.Body language

Only 7% of our communication is based on the words and sentences we speak. It turns out that 38% of our meaning is conveyed through tone of voice and 55% through our body language and mannerisms. This shows that even with the best intentions, our words can be unconsciously misinterpreted by another party.

When giving feedback to a direct report or colleague, you should pay attention not only to your words, but also to your body language. To create an environment in which the recipient feels safe and valued, be sure to relax your arms and body, make gentle eye contact, use a gentle voice, and smile. These small but effective non-verbal signals can help create the conditions for a productive and open feedback conversation.

Constructive feedback as motivation for employee performance

Constructive feedback promotes change. It enables your employees to become more self-aware and leads to behavioral changes that contribute to better business results. Ultimately, constructive feedback can help improve supervisor-employee relationships, promote engagement, and even improve employee retention. That's why it's so important that your managers get into the habit of giving regular feedback.

Check out IceHrm's performance management system to understand how you can use it to provide constructive feedback to your employees.