Most managers don't seem to enjoy giving feedback - and sadly stats show they are not very effective at it either - but it seems that employees need to receive it and in fact, many love it. The Globoforce study found 65% of employees want more feedback. In addition, 96% of employees said that receiving feedback regularly is a good thing, and 83% of employees appreciate receiving feedback, regardless if it's positive or negative.
In my view, feedback is feedback, and there's no such thing as negative feedback because it's all information. However, I think there is positive and negative intent, hence feedback where the goal is to help, versus bite back where the purpose is to hurt or score points.
Feedback, even the so-called negative feedback, is an opportunity to improve or change. It connects people and can often help the relationship develop through quality coaching conversations and self-development.
Feedback is a key life and business skill. It is central to learning, developing relationships and improving performance. It is also a valuable team-building and problem-solving skill that offers immediate impact and ROI.
Can feedback really be considered 'food of champions'? Check this out:
A Gallup poll found employees who received negative feedback were more than 20 times likely to be engaged than those who received no feedback at all. At first, it might seem strange that people are more engaged if they receive negative feedback. Remember, feedback is information, and the process of engaging in feedback shows interest and attention. Employees who don't receive any feedback can feel neglected, undervalued, forgotten about and may feel their work goes unnoticed.
If staff feel unimportant and their work goes unnoticed, guess what? Engagement and energy will go down, which will almost certainly lead to poor performance, missed opportunities, conflict and lower trust.
Managers and leaders who know how to give (and receive) feedback wisely have an extremely effective tool to manage and develop employees in their hands.
The expression 'give feedback' is commonplace. But it only tells part of the story and explains why, in an HBR research that of 100 companies surveyed, c80% of managers and leaders said they gave feedback, whilst only c30% of staff in those businesses said they received feedback.
Why do you think this is?
Given the current need in businesses for practical ways to #buildbackbetter, we will be running webinars on this topic to discuss ways to help clients learn, develop, and improve giving and receiving feedback skills.
PJ Stevens is a facilitator, coach and consultant, expert in developing feedback (feedforward) skills, a performance culture of giving and receiving feedback and feedback for success. #buildbackbetter #unleashbritainspotential #leadingbusinesschange