Keep these four steps in mind:
- Ensure that there is no embarrassment. That’s why you want to create an opening and ask for a private place to deliver the feedback.
- Focus on the data.
- Explain how you are affected using "I" language.
- Ask for joint problem solving.
We hope this article helps you build your teams through feedback.
Further Reading
On feedback:
- Esther Derby has written about this extensively on her blog at www.estherderby.com/tag/feedback.
- Rothman, Johanna and Esther Derby, Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (Dallas and Raleigh: Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005).
- Seashore, Charles, Edith Seashore, and Gerald M. Weinberg, What Did You Say? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback (Bingham House Books, 1997).
On why performance reviews are so stupid:
- Buckingham, Marcus and Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999).
- Hope, Jeremy and Robin Fraser, Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap (Harvard Business Press, 2003).
- Kohn, Alfie, Punished by Rewards (New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1993).
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey, The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998).
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey, What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey and Robert I. Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-based Management (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006).
- Rothman, Johanna, "Agile Managers: The Essence of Leadership," www.jrothman.com/2010/03/agile-managers-the-essence-of-leadership.
About the author
Lisamarie Babik is a practice leader in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is an oft sought-after speaker for conferences and professional organizations who, if you let her, will talk your ear off about interpersonal communication, team dynamics, and the burgeoning world of "agile project management." You can contact her at lisamarie.babik@gmail.com.
About the author
Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” helps organizational leaders see problems and risks in their product development. She helps them recognize potential “gotchas,” seize opportunities, and remove impediments. Johanna was the Agile 2009 conference chair. She is the technical editor for Agile Connection and the author of these books:
- Manage Your Job Search
- Hiring Geeks That Fit
- Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
- The 2008 Jolt Productivity award-winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
- Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management
- Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People
Johanna is working on a book about agile program management. She writes columns for Stickyminds.com and projectmanagementcom and blogs on her website, jrothman.com, as well on createadaptablelife.com.
