Knowing how to give constructive feedback is an essential component of effective employee development and performance management. Managers who understand the value of constructive feedback know that it benefits them as well as their employees. Addressing mistakes or substandard work in a nonjudgmental, problem-solving manner benefits employees by giving them a chance to improve. Managers benefit because errors and poor performance are kept at a minimum. Also, their stress level becomes lower because they are not internalizing their concerns. Below are some basic tips on providing constructive feedback.

6 Tips on How to Give Constructive Feedback

1. Get the facts before giving feedback. Weigh any mitigating circumstances.
2. If possible, provide feedback face-to-face, in private. This allows employees to save face and to concentrate on what you are saying. Employees may react emotionally if you give them feedback at the wrong time or place.
3. Discuss the problem while the incident is fresh in your mind. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to fall into the trap of inaction. Furthermore, your recollection of the events may become fuzzy as time passes. You also lose impact by waiting; the connection between the incident and your feedback decreases with time. Research has shown that feedback given as soon as appropriate after observation is more specific, more concrete, and generally more accurate.
4. Don't begin by saying how terrible the problem is. "There's something terrible happening here. It's really getting me mad. What I mean is..." Starting like this puts employees on the defensive. Sometimes it sends employees into a state of mental panic thinking, "Oh no! What have I done now?" If you need a preface, just say something like, "I've noticed..."
5. Stay with the immediate problem. Bringing up past incidents or other problems can overwhelm and devastate employees. Be aware of how much feedback your employees can handle at one time.
6. Don't label people. If someone calls us "dishonest," it sounds quite different from their saying we acted "dishonestly" in a given situation. Focus feedback on observations rather than on inferences. Observations are those things that could be seen or heard by anyone, but inferences are your own interpretations or conclusions about what went on.

Want to develop your feedback skills? Check out the online course ML120 - Feedback Skills.

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