Whether we’re in the supervisory or in the subordinate role, we all get confronted with feedback at work one time or another. If the feedback is positive, matters are fairly easy to handle: Everyone likes receiving a compliment for a job well done, while giving a compliment is not a bad experience either
It usually indicates that you, as the giver of the compliment, have taken enough time to follow the acts of the person in question, and have recognized his or her outstanding performance.
But how about handling the feedback issue when it does not particularly regard a bed of roses? Here are some simple suggestions on dealing with it.
If you’re on the receiving end of the feedback (the subordinate):
* Try to know beforehand what the session will entail. You are usually aware of your performance weak points anyway.
* If you don’t know exactly what the session will entail: think the possible discussion points through, and write down your suggestions on how you will improve your performance.
* Be on time! In fact, try to be there before your supervisor! No need to aggravate someone who may already have a good reason to be upset any further.
* Go into the session with an attitude of willingness to listen and not one of being offended, even if you may feel that way. Body language is important here. In most cases a supervisor who feels that the feedback receiver has the discipline to listen, will try to make the pain short. Of course this also depends on your supervisor’s character. Some people just love to dwell on others’ shortcomings. However, once you know that about your boss, you should just try to see his approach within the right perspective and not take it too hard.
* Try to refrain from coming up with a large list of personal reasons why your performance suffered. Even if your manager is the understanding kind this may give way to feelings of irritation and being used. Actually, there are even cases known where the subordinate who said that he had no excuse for his behavior -because it was a personal issue- received better understanding than the one who started out with a long list of defenses.
* Never talk first. Let your boss do the talking. You might not even have been called in for the reasons you thought!
* Always try to end the session in a positive atmosphere.
If you’re on the giving end of the feedback: the supervisor:
* Be prepared! List the points you want to discuss.
* Start with mentioning the good elements in your subordinate’s performance. Do this systematically, sympathetically, but definitely not in a sugarcoating manner. Most employees see through that anyway.
* Be careful with your wording. Try, for instance, to replace the word “reprimand” with “adjustment-need.” This is not sugarcoating but rather prevention to impinge on your employee’s dignity.
* Don’t dwell on the deficiencies. Rather, spend as much time on the positive points as on the negative ones. Criticism is hard enough to take as it is.
* Try to have some suggestions at hand when expressing your concerns.
* Ask the subordinate-in-review what suggestions he or she has regarding his or her possible improvements.
* Be informed about the employee in question’s character and try to tailor your approach to this person’s nature.
* Explain the importance of this feedback for the overall well being of the department. When you tie the employee’s performance improvement to the entire department’s functioning, you attach a sense of importance to this person’s tasks. It may be the key to great betterment!
Feedback should be constructive and should therefore never interfere with the sense of feeling good within any human being. Just keep that in mind and every feedback session can become a bearable -even a rewarding- one!
Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California, U.S., in 1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master’s in Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor in Business and Management in Burbank, California. Look for her books “:Empower the Leader in You” and “The Global Village” in bookstores online or on her website: http://www.joanmarques.com
