How to Give Negative Feedback
Negative feedback has a negative connotation that makes it challenging to give effectively. Instead, effective leaders view giving negative feedback as a development conversation and an opportunity for team members to grow and improve.
The suspense of giving negative feedback brings up an array of emotions that could prevent you from opening the conversation to high-quality development feedback. These emotions could cause the receiver to grow defensive and unreceptive to what you have to say.
As a leadership coach, one of the skills I often work on with clients is learning how to deliver negative feedback as constructive feedback. By reframing your thought process around giving negative critiques, you’ll be more confident and better prepared to effectively deliver constructive feedback that won’t result in an uncooperative employee.
Learning how to deliver negative feedback creates a comfortable work environment and increased morale. Let’s dive deeper into what negative feedback is, how to deliver it effectively, and some valuable tips on reframing your mindset around the discomfort often associated with these difficult conversations.
What Is Negative Feedback?
Although giving and receiving feedback can be unnerving, it’s an essential tool that leaders should develop. Feedback can be positive or negative and both are productive and necessary for a workplace to thrive.
Positive vs. Negative Feedback
Positive feedback acknowledges and celebrates outstanding work and effort. It focuses on someone’s strengths and accomplishments. The benefit of positive feedback is that it encourages someone to continue doing the desired behavior.
So how does negative feedback work? Negative feedback focuses on areas that need improvement and helps hold people accountable for mistakes that harm others or the group’s purpose. Essentially, it’s the process of telling someone what they’re doing poorly and how they can fix it. Positively delivering constructive criticism makes the conversation more comfortable and more likely to be acted on by the receiver.
Reframing Negative Feedback and Our Emotions
Whether you’re delivering positive or negative feedback, feedback should always be productive. Unfortunately, the emotions you may be feeling around giving negative feedback could prevent you from delivering it in an effective and optimistic way.
Effective leaders learn how to be cognizant of the emotions that may arise when delivering feedback and managing resulting outcomes. Understanding emotions is an essential part of developing your leadership communication skills, especially in situations that call for difficult feedback.
Recognizing and creating a larger emotional vocabulary helps us handle the uncertainty of a difficult conversation. For example, we may say that we feel nervous about an upcoming conversation. However, if you do some reflection and prepare for difficult conversations, it could mean that you feel frustrated, concerned, self-conscious, or even curious.
After doing some reflection you likely better understand the emotions you may be feeling. The next step is to figure out how to give negative feedback in a positive way that promotes communication and unity.
How to Give Negative Feedback In a Positive Way
When giving negative feedback, you should consistently deliver it in an optimistic way. This delivery makes the difficult conversation more comfortable, and people are more likely to act on encouragement towards development. Using coaching techniques can help you effectively give negative feedback in a way that encourages growth.
Here are some great ways to deliver negative feedback to employees in a positive way:
1. Reframe your mindset
Remember, you aren’t giving negative feedback, you’re having a development conversation. By reframing your mindset, you’ll stop seeing negative feedback as a bad thing. Getting rid of the negative connotation surrounding negative feedback will help you be better prepared when it comes time to provide it to your team.
2. Please don’t do it in public
Giving negative feedback in public or in front of other people can be uncomfortable, especially for the person receiving it. In addition, it can be embarrassing or even disruptive to provide this kind of feedback in public. Instead, have a private conversation to ensure that others are as comfortable as possible. Having a confidential discussion promotes open communication and encourages others to be more receptive to your critiques.
3. Listen to others
Listen to what the other person has to say before you speak. Make sure you have all the accurate information before you make a decision. Try to understand their point of view so you can be aware of anything impacting their performance.
Listening before you speak will allow you to give feedback from a place of empathy. Positively approaching an issue lets the other person know that you want to help.
4. Don’t attack the person
The purpose of feedback is to correct the behaviors that may be hindering their overall performance. For example, if someone feels attacked personally they may become defensive, preventing a constructive conversation. By focusing on the behavior rather than the person, you may prevent any misperceptions from occurring.
5. Give negative feedback in small doses
Employees that constantly receive only negative feedback may start to feel like they can’t do anything right. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to maintain employee morale.
A thriving culture can’t happen in a work environment that’s filled with only negative feedback. Try to distribute negative feedback in small amounts. This way, others will know where they need to improve without being overwhelmed by a constant stream of negative feedback.
Get Started With Leadership Coaching Today
Don’t be afraid to give negative feedback when needed. Effectively giving feedback is something that leaders must learn to deal with, so it’s important to be prepared beforehand by having a game plan.
If you’re struggling to effectively give negative feedback to the people around you, leadership development coaching may provide you with the right steps to take. I work with you to create a game plan, set goals, and develop skills that will help you give negative criticism productively and positively.
Let’s talk. Contact us today to discuss what’s challenging you and how we can support you in navigating a path forward.