How to give feedback to a distant world? blog

Learning how to give feedback to colleagues can be difficult. What should my feedback be specific and how can I achieve the need for sensitivity with directness? How can I promote an engaging conversation that will leave my friend feeling inspired and optimistic?

Remote working environments can amplify those challenges. Body language or subtle cues which are easily interpreted when in person may be difficult to discern from a distance. So, when it comes to offering constructive feedback, whether positive or negative, the wires are crossed and the person who is listening might not be in a good condition to be able to comprehend your thoughts.

But feedback, with all its pitfalls and challenges, is a necessary part of collaboration. There is no way to simply pray that your team magically closes the gaps in those issues that need improvement. Neither can your team continue its task for an indefinite period without support from the leadership and encouragement.

This article we'll discuss some best practices that can assist you in improving your feedback to your colleagues. We'll dive into.

What can you do to provide constructive feedback

Consider the method of delivery

With all the modes of communication at your disposal make sure you choose the right one. Be sure to ask new team members (or current team members) which way they prefer to communicate and how they prefer to receive feedback.

Even though your company might have standard annual reviews, feedback can be given at any moment and it is important to make sure everyone on your team is at their desks and are comfortable receiving the feedback. It could be as simple as turning off the camera, or writing a thoughtful and informative email, or booking periodic 1:1 meetings, based on their level of comfort and the goals in the workplace.

Create a safe environment

When you're in an office space, there are many ways you can set a tone through your surroundings. It is possible to invite your colleagues to coffee, and talk about how they felt about a big client meeting that didn't go so well you could go to a boardroom for intense discussion, or simply stop them in the hallway to give them a quick hugs. But in a remote world there is a lot of difficulty in choosing the ideal location for what you'd like to discuss. Instead, you'll have create psychologically safe warnings.
It could also mean the time of your meeting is in a place where people don't be distracted by work demands, dressing appropriately for the event (a casual appearance goes quite a ways to making people feel relaxed) and even suggesting a camera-off or phone conversation to give people a break from screen fatigue. The use of a voice-only conference also cuts down the fear factor and encourages active listening on both sides. This leads us to our next topic.

Listen (but don't pry!)

A distributed workplace with communication patterns constantly changing and the lines between personal and professional life are becoming less clear, active listening builds trust and confidence. Active listening gives you situational knowledge of what your coworkers have been experiencing outside of work, and what factors affect their work performance. Being attentive can help you improve feedback delivery, understand what's not working, and how to create a better working environment for the teammates.

Be sure to start with the good rather than the bad

It's been proven for a long time that the compliment sandwich--in which negative feedback is sandwiched in between two positives is an efficient method to convey difficult news. But, positive feedback has taken on a new urgency nowadays. The majority of people are under stress on many personal fronts (like health, family, social, existential, and, despite all your efforts, likely professional) and could really benefit from positive reinforcement.

Out of these conflicting stresses of life, psychologists have call the negativity bias, which can be described as the tendency to focus and focus on negative feedback instead of positive feedback. That means employers need to be extra vigilant in promoting those who are positive over those who are not. No matter how critical your feedback might be, you should be able to start with empathy and kindness as well as acknowledge the hard work that employees have put in through this challenging time.

Make sure you are specific and concrete with your feedback

To help counter negativity bias, you should focus on specific feedback that provides practical insights instead of general statements about confidence, attitudes, attitude to work or conflict resolution abilities that could easily be misinterpreted or unhelpful.

Good feedback isn't just a performance review, it's also a chance to grow and setting goals. The most effective feedback is provided when you have a clear objective and target to achieve, and you can be clear about what the person could work on to help them get there.

You can also tie feedback to actions and the impact it has how their thinking directly led to a positive income, or how unintentional or inadequate communication resulted in another employee needing to repeat certain work or how the situation could be improved next time.

Make sure you prioritize your feedback in order to focus on the most important points

Rather than saving up a laundry list of critiques or praises that you can chuck out at during a meeting, think about making your comments more specific to areas that could have the biggest impact where it matters.

Take a look at the key points you learned together

After the meeting, you should ask for them to discuss the most important points. You can either think about ways that they can overcome gaps in efficiency and/or grow further within their job (and what ways you may assist them) or request them to offer up their summary of the feedback meeting when they are confident enough to do so. The goal is to make certain that you're on the same page and to be able to ensure that information is delivered in the right way.

Follow up

After a few weeks or even months after the feedback meeting, check in with them and see what they're up to. It's a good chance to keep building trust, make sure they're able to balance their responsibilities in a variety of ways, or encourage the positive feedback.

Videos for collaboration tips and feedback

Record your presentations using video for review

Pre-record post-mortem thoughts and group feedback

Feedback and how to provide it. FAQs

    What are some positive feedback examples?    

Positive feedback example: "Sarah has done an incredible job at removing unnecessary jobs and creating useful tools for the team. We'd like to watch her grow her skills through tackling new projects and sharing her expertise and expertise through presentations as well as various other tools."                     How can you write the feedback of your peers?    

Couch constructive feedback and provide positive feedback. Make your feedback actionable and specific and also tied to a specific objective. Make it possible for your team members to take action. Be patient and provide help when it is required.                     What's an example of constructive feedback?    

A positive example of feedback "Phil has managed a workload that was 10% higher than in the prior year, and was enthusiastic managing his program efficiently and ensuring that they meet deadlines. The only challenge I'd suggest to him during the next year is to improve his level of communication with stakeholders to maintain openness throughout his project's duration to ensure that he stays clear of roadblocks that could arise."