3 Ways to prevent your feedback being a "waste of time"

Ahoy,

If you’re in a leadership position then at some point you’ll need to give feedback to someone…

Have you ever received feedback and thought to yourself: "Well that was a waste of time"?

We’ve all experienced bad feedback, but often we do very little to make sure we don't make the same mistakes!

I spent time as a fire control instructor, taking teams though submarine simulators, training them on weapons and tactics. These sessions could get very stressful! They are designed to push people, make them think on their feet and react to dangerous situations.

No matter how well they did (or didn’t…) do, following each session we would get together for a feedback session.

In order to make sure people actually got something out of these sessions I narrowed down three very easy frameworks to follow.

And no we’re not talking “Say something nice, then rip them to pieces, but finish it with something nice again…"

We’re talking proven methods of delivering feedback that actually boost performance.

So lets dive in.

Ask questions

Before listing off all the "constructive wisdom" that you have to offer, try seeing if they can solve the problem first. For example:

• How do you think that went?

• Is there anything you would do differently next time?

• What do you think would have happened if you did this instead of that?

When an individual or a team come up with solutions themselves they are far more likely to execute on them!

You can always dive deeper into specific points, but by allowing them to work things out for themselves your feedback session becomes much more constructive.

As a general rule of thumb, the other person, or the team, should be speaking more than you are.

Be specific. Be actionable

"The way you did that was not very good"

This is so far from helpful it would have been better left unsaid.

• What made it not very good?

• How could it have been done better?

• What does "not very good" even mean?

Feedback must be specific and it must be actionable.

It seems so ridiculous, yet this is a perfect example of the kind of terrible feedback I’ve witnessed! So how do we fix this?

First lets bring in point 1, ask questions:

“How do you think that went?”

Now let’s narrow it down.

“What about this specific area? Is there anything you think you could improve upon?”

Highlight the specific points you can see being solved, and have them come up with an action point.

“Yes, I completely agree, X, Y and Z specific points would have made this better overall. How do you think we could improve that next time?”

Finally, summarise the specific points that need improvement, and the action points (that they came up with).

Now isn’t that better than:

“By the way, I didn’t like that…”

Use an example

Having now worked out together what can improved and how, talk through an example.

It’s so easy to nod heads and agree with what's being said, I know this is true because we've all done it! (Don’t lie to me and tell me you haven’t…)

By talking through an example, we able check understanding and cement the idea, while also demonstrating how the feedback can be practically applied.

Generate a scenario that requires the use of the feedback just uncovered to solve.

For example, having just delivered feedback to a salesman, run through a role play scenario where they're forced to use what you've just discussed to close a new client.

Applying feedback in practice is the easiest way to solidify ideas.

Final thoughts

Care.

Feedback is vital for development.

Don't make delivering feedback something you feel like you have to do. Supporting your team is something you get to do. It’s part of the privilege of leadership.

Don't let your feedback be a "waste of time".

I hope you got something out of this today. If you have any feedback, please do get in touch through X (Twitter) using the link below.

I’d love to hear any leadership challenges you’re facing or have faced in the past. Feel free to share them with me and I’ll be looking to break down some commonly faced leadership challenges in the future.

Until then, have a great day!

Reece