7 Ways to Share Effective Feedback
In the past two weeks, two people have thanked me for giving them unsolicited feedback.
I was struck by this because society tells us that people hate critical feedback. While that theory is mostly true, studies show that most of us want more feedback than we currently receive. Employee engagement firm Office Vibe found that 65 percent of employees want more feedback. They also found that 82 percent of employees appreciate receiving feedback, regardless of whether it’s positive or negative.
However, many hesitate to share critical feedback because they don’t know how to do it effectively or they’re worried about how the person on the receiving end will respond.
What Happens When Feedback Isn’t Shared?
I discovered the tough answer to this question when I was 24. As a freshly minted MBA grad, I accepted a management position leading a team of 50 people in a retail store. A couple months into that role, I had to fire one of my team leads — a person who had been with the company for five years.
The termination discussion went about as poorly as one could imagine. When I told the team member he was being fired, he cussed me out and told me I had no authority to fire him. Security guards ultimately had to escort the individual out of the building as he yelled and swore at his now-former…
