Tips for Giving Instructive Feedback to those You Supervise

When you avoid these five mistakes, you can build your confidence in addressing performance issues. 

This adapted summary is from an article, “5 Mistakes Managers Make When Giving Negative Feedback,” by Steve Vamos in Harvard Business Review.

Giving corrective feedback can be one of a leader’s toughest responsibilities. As humans, we want to be liked, and we value the working relationships we have with our administrative team colleagues. At the same time, to accomplish our school improvement goals and in service of our students, we need to address attitudes, behaviors, and performance issues. You can gain more confidence in your approach to these conversations not only through practice and repetition but also by avoiding the following mistakes:

Mistake #1: Waiting too long to have the conversation. The “wait and see if it gets better” approach generally does not work. Best practice is to give the feedback as close to the occurrence of the incident as possible. This means not waiting for several small problems to snowball. 

Mistake #2: Not preparing enough. What are the expectations for the leader? Does the leader know what is expected? How do you know they know? Where and when are these expectations communicated? What specifically have I observed or heard? What has been the impact? You might also consider using these 5 Steps to Intentional Impact (from the work of Anese Cavanaugh).

Mistake #3: Not asking the right questions. To get to the heart of the issue, ask key questions. How are things going? How are you feeling about your role? Be sure to listen intently to the response. Avoid getting any story going in your head or filling in any gaps. Hold space for your colleague.

Mistake #4: Making the issue about the person rather than the issue. Focus on the work, not the person, says Vamos. Position yourself as a facilitator between the organization’s needs and the employee’s capability and performance. “Taking on the role of facilitator significantly reduces the emotional pressure you may feel during difficult conversations,” he says. “If you show genuine care in the other person’s development, they will usually sense it and understand you’re trying to help them improve.” 

Mistake #5: Not Creating a Roadmap for Improvement. Set the stage for change by collaborating to identify actionable steps and check in points along the way.

Read the full article here and a Marshall Memo summary here.