“We believe we do a better job at giving feedback than we do.” – Rick Maurer

 

Dear Readers: I’m taking a hiatus from writing new blog posts for a bit, so I’ll be sharing some of my most popular past posts over the next few weeks. Hope you enjoy this one – please share your thoughts in the Comments box below!

 

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“Great job, John!”

“I really liked your presentation today, Sharon.”

“Big improvement over last time, Sarah!”

 
While it’s important to give positive feedback to your colleagues and team members (the more, the better, in fact), not all feedback is created equal.

 
So while the statements above are positive, they don’t quite deliver the goods.  How come?

 
1) The statements are general, without a lot of detail or specificity;
2) They focus mainly on the feedback giver’s opinion; or
3) how well basic standards may have been met.

 
Instead of giving your colleagues generic praise on their performance, you can amp up the impact of the feedback, promote more learning and development, and improve your working relationships when you use methods of acknowledging performance.

 

Acknowledgment:

• is specific (about what was done well, or what you appreciated)

• makes an observation (points to a specific characteristic, skill, talent, quality or attribute that contributes to the success)

• focuses on impact (what happened positively at the individual, team or organizational level as a result of the activity or action)

 
So, the earlier examples could be reworked to something like this:

“John, your facilitation of today’s meeting really helped us accomplish a lot in a short amount of time!”

“Sharon, your use of graphics in your presentation really made the information so clear and accessible for me.”

“Sarah, I can really see how that class you took on effective feedback is helping you and your team work together better.“

 

Can you see and feel the difference?

While praise isn’t wrong, per se, as a method of feedback, acknowledgment is more powerful and useful.  Get your own copy here of the handy graphic above!

(And to get extra bonus points: this also works great with kids, partners, spouses, etc., as well as at work)

 

Your turn

In the comments below tell me what’s your experience with giving or receiving feedback?  What works?

 

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    “We believe we do a better job at giving feedback than we do.” – Rick Maurer   “Great job, John!” “I really liked your presentation today, Sharon.” “Big improvement over last time, Sarah!” While it’s important to give positive feedback to your colleagues and team members (the more, the better, in fact), not […]