Can I give you feedback? [yes] When you take the time to read a blog on feedback, here’s what that tells me; you’re interested in learning new skills, and you want to improve your employees and get the most from them. Great job!
That’s Feedback. To be more accurate, that’s positive feedback.
True Story
I had a senior sales rep that worked for me and worked for the company for years. He’d participate in meetings and events up to the point his calendar would allow. Every Monday sales meeting we would show a short informative or fun YouTube video to kick off the meeting. Over this one weekend, this rep emailed me a suggested video, to show for the Monday sales meeting. I used that video for the sales meeting, and afterward, I gave him positive feedback privately. I wanted to reinforce him helping-me find quality videos that are time-consuming on my weekends. Wouldn’t you know it, after my feedback, he had sent me videos, for years, almost every weekend.
Why Feedback
As employees, we crave knowing where we stand with our managers. What do they think of us? Do they like us? Are we doing a good job for them and the company?
When we see people, we judge them based on their behavior. However, the interesting thing is, people judge themselves based on their intentions. Think about that. The way we see ourselves may be skewed or not as accurate as our real behaviors. We see ourselves as working hard, working on projects, being good at a particular skill. But, are our actions incongruent with our intentions?
I’ll go out on a limb and say, probably not!
This is why, as managers, we need to give consistent feedback, if we’re looking to maximize the best work out of someone. Brian Tracy, International Motivational Speaker, and Sales Guru have said: How often is an airplane, traveling from NY to CA, on track? Most people would say that the aircraft is on-course 70% to 80% of the time or even most of the trip. They would be wrong. The Airplane is off-course 99% of the time. You read that right, off-course 99% of the time. Just like our employees.
The aircraft’s gauges are giving feedback on when the Airplane is off-course, and the pilot will make those minor adjustments to get back on course. It’s no different when driving a car. Small changes get you to your destination.
We need to think of feedback as our gauges to help employees keep on track, and to get them to their end-goal.
When to give feedback?
Knowing when to give feedback is not difficult. I can promise you that there’s an epidemic of too-little feedback given to employees. Looking for the right behavior is always a great start. Put in your planner to give 5-10 feedbacks for the day. Use this as a tool to improve employee behavior. Focus on positive. Catch employees doing good work and give them timely feedback. I recommend giving feedback within 24-hours. The sooner, the better.
How to give feedback?
I’ve had managers tell me “great job with that sale” or “you do good work.” I always thought to myself, what does that mean? What did I do that was good? When you don’t know the specifics on something you did that was ‘good’, then you can’t duplicate it. If it is corrective feedback, how can you correct something you’re not sure about what you did in the first place.
The feedback model is designed to be specific and has the receiver understand exactly what they did and how it affects the big picture.
4-Step Feedback Model
Here is a simple 4-Step Feedback model that you and your managers can practice when giving feedback:
- Permission – Always ask for permission to give feedback. By doing this, you’re setting up the conversation for the receiver to listen and be prepared. By asking permission, it captures their attention from beginning to end. It sounds like this – “Tom, can I give you feedback?” – Simple.
- Describe behavior – Explain their behavior of what you experienced. Be very specific. This helps the recipient understand specifically what they did and how to change or duplicate their behavior, depending on positive or corrective feedback. It would sound like this: “When you came into work 15-minutes early…”, “When you’re on the phones, making prospecting calls on your own…”, “When you hand in paperwork missing content, like the address…”
- Implications of Behavior – Explain how this behavior affects the bigger picture. Get the receiver to understand that their actions have a larger implication. Think about how their actions affect the big picture. Also, how they affect you as the manager. It would sound like this: “…here’s what that tells me – you’re getting a jump on the competition…”, “…here’s what that tells me – you’re committed to your success…”, “…here’s what happens, it slows down Mike, in contracts, who enters the order into the system…”
- Reinforce or Ask to Change – When wrapping up your feedback, you want to either reinforce that good behavior or have the recipient change their behavior. To reinforce the good behavior, you don’t need to overdue the compliment. All you have to say is, “great job. Keep it up.” A small compliment at the end helps the recipient know that it is positive feedback, and they should continue doing that same behavior. When providing corrective feedback, you don’t want to get into a long discussion about what they should be doing. It should wrap up and sound like this “can you change that?” or “what can you do to change that?” Let them help with what to do to fix the behavior.
This feedback model, packaged together, should take no more than 30-40 seconds to give. It’s simple, precise, and gets results.
Prepare the feedback in your mind before giving it. Think about the behavior and be sure you are being specific. Being specific helps the employee identify the actions they performed. Think about the implications and how it affects the bigger picture. By doing this, it will help the recipient to understand how their actions affect the bigger picture. When wrapping up your feedback with reinforcement or corrective, be short and sweet. You don’t want any long conversations. This model is designed to be quick and effective.
Corrective Feedback
When giving corrective feedback and you say, “can you change this?” you may have some employees challenge you and come up with reasons or excuses for why they have done what they’ve done. After they say their piece, look at them and say again, “I understand, but can you change this?” Do not get into a battle or argument. Be sure to key in on the “behavior”, by no finger-pointing, no name-calling, no attack of character. Just focus on the behavior. Keep this in mind – that it is not about what is being said to the recipient but it’s about what the recipient heard. So, don’t argue.
Putting it together.
Sales Rep Making Prospecting Calls:
Can I give you feedback? [yes] When you’re making proactive prospecting calls, it tells me that you’re working hard at building your business. Great Job!
Sales rep positively participates in all weekly meetings
Can I give you feedback? [yes] When you participate in the weekly meetings, it tells me that you’re paying attention and that you’re a team player. Great Job, thank you!
Employee negative attitude
Can I give you feedback? [yes] Earlier, when you spoke negatively about our CRM, here’s what happens, it distracts the other salespeople and doesn’t send a good message to the new reps. Can you change this?
These are just a few samples of giving effective feedback that describes their behavior, demonstrates its impact and the manager reinforcing or asking them to change that behavior. The more you practice the easier it is, and watch how behavior changes for the better.
~John Partenio