Most managers we talk to say they are only interested in giving their employees \u201cconstructive feedback.\u201d But what’s the difference between constructive and non-constructive (negative) feedback in the workplace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s our answer. Constructive feedback always focuses on the role <\/em>the employee is playing, and specifically on the actions taken and choices made in support of high performance within<\/em> that role. Non-constructive (negative) feedback, by contrast, focuses on the person \u2013 on his or her identity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That distinction is worth understanding, because role-based feedback is always<\/em> more effective than identity-based feedback. This communication principle is universal. It holds true whether you\u2019re dealing with someone who reports to you, with a colleague, or even with someone higher up in the organization who asks for your help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider the situation where an employee who reports to you \u2013 we\u2019ll call him Jack — delivers a project at a very high degree of quality \u2013 but delivers it late. The ineffective<\/em> feedback you could give Jack about that event would focus on Jack\u2019s sense of self. It might sound like this: \u201cYou know, Jack, you really make my job a lot more difficult when you insist on turning things in two or three days after what you know full well is the due date. You\u2019ve gotten this note before. I just don\u2019t understand why you can\u2019t seem to grasp the concept of a deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notice the emphasis here on Jack as a person, rather than Jack\u2019s performance within his professional role. <\/em>Who is making our job more difficult? Jack. Who is insisting on turning in projects late? Jack. Who can\u2019t grasp the concept of a deadline? Jack. We may fool ourselves into thinking that this kind of speech can be filed under \u201cconstructive criticism,\u201d but in fact there\u2019s little or nothing constructive about it. It\u2019s an attack, whether we mean it to be or not, and Jack can hardly be blamed for reacting defensively. There\u2019s virtually no opportunity for him to learn and grow from what we\u2019ve said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now suppose we were to focus, not on what we believe Jack\u2019s flaws to be, but on how he can improve within the role<\/em> he is playing on the team. What would happen then? Suppose our dialogue with Jack, in a private, one-on-one setting, went something like the following. (Note the words in bold type.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: Thanks so much for turning in that Collins report, Jack. It looked great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: Thanks. I was happy with how it came out, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: Can I ask you something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: Sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: What did you think you did really well<\/strong> on that report?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: (Any response.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: I would have to agree. (If you do in fact agree.) I\u2019m curious, do you think there\u2019s anything that we could have done better<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: (Any response. Ideally, he will mention the fact that the project was late as an area where \u201cwe\u201d could have done better. If he doesn\u2019t, you can test his receptivity by saying something like\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: How did you feel about the delivery schedule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: Well, I know it came in a couple of days after the deadline that we agreed to on the spreadsheet. I realize that makes things tougher on you and on the people in Legal. I guess I could have managed my time better on this one and gotten it in to you on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: That\u2019s basically the note I got from Legal. The work was great. We just need it in the timeframe that was agreed on. So: Is there anything else you think we can do differently<\/strong> on this the next time around?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack: Well, if I gave myself a calendar note to check in with you a few days before the due date and give you my update on how the project is coming along, I think that would help me to focus on the due date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You: Perfect. That works for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this dialogue \u2013 which we at Sandler call the \u201cwell\/better\/different\u201d model \u2013 the emphasis is not on Jack\u2019s shortcomings as a person. Instead, the spotlight is on what we can do to help him perform better within the role he has accepted as a member of the team. The viewpoint is \u201cwe,\u201d not \u201cyou.\u201d And the goal is to get Jack <\/em>to come up with the feedback, rather than on us delivering it to<\/em> him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advantage of this approach is twofold. First and foremost, \u201cwell\/better\/different\u201d starts a dialogue<\/em> with the other person, as opposed to us looking for an excuse to launch a monologue. That\u2019s important. Second, once that dialogue begins, we can get a sense of what the person\u2019s current level of self-awareness is. In other words, we can learn whether Jack already knows that there\u2019s an area for improvement that may be worth looking at. If he doesn\u2019t, we can adjust accordingly \u2013 all the while making sure that we\u2019re talking about his performance within the role, not his validity as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the bottom line. The very best constructive feedback of all doesn\u2019t come from you. It comes when the individual you\u2019re talking to gives feedback to themselves \u2013 and then owns <\/em>the conclusions they\u2019ve reached about how to improve within the role. The \u201cwell\/better\/different\u201d feedback model you\u2019ve just read about makes that a much more likely outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most managers we talk to say they are only interested in giving their employees \u201cconstructive feedback.\u201d But what’s the difference between constructive and non-constructive (negative) feedback in the workplace? Here\u2019s our answer. Constructive feedback always focuses on the role the employee is playing, and specifically on the actions taken and choices made in support of high performance within that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":11120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n