Don’t Slack on Feedback

  Communications Management   Talent Management   Teams   ProjectsAtWork  

Transparency, accountability and informed decision-making on project teams all require regular feedback, both formally and informally. Here are nine steps, based on a mutual learning mindset, to improve how you deliver feedback to your team.

If you and your team members are going to be transparent with each other, enable each other to make informed choices, and hold each other accountable, then you need to give regular feedback, formally and informally, says Roger Schwarz, author of Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams. Here he shares nine key points for improving how you deliver feedback by applying a Mutual Learning mindset: 

1. As you approach the conversation, be open to changing your mind. Being curious is one of the most powerful things you can do to give feedback effectively. This doesn’t mean holding back on what you think; it means being as equally curious about the other person’s view as you are convinced about your own.

2. Jointly design the conversation. Start the conversation by agreeing on the purpose of the conversation and how you will hold it. This reduces everyone’s anxiety and also lets you act as partners in making sure the conversation stays on the track you agreed to.

3. Jointly design the order of the feedback. Many leaders assume that others want to receive feedback using the sandwich approach (start with some positive, …

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