Providing Feedback
People give feedback all the time, just like people are listeners all the time. While feedback is given frequently, how well it is done is another matter entirely. Just like active listening takes practice, effective feedback does too.
When giving verbal feedback, you want the feedback receiver to be open to what is said. Therefore, how the feedback is given is important.
Let’s consider the following scenario. Juan spent a month preparing a webinar for his team at work. During the opening session, Juan pauses and asks if there are any questions. One of the teammates says to Juan, “what you said makes no sense at all.” How do you think Juan feels? He probably feels upset, which could negatively influence his performance during the rest of the webinar. The negativity can also cause the speaker to close their mind to anything else you have to say, which essentially shuts down the speaker’s ability to listen actively to the feedback.
This is where effective feedback practice is essential. Let’s go back to Juan. The teammate really does not understand the effects of his words and tone. It may be a good idea to tell Juan that the audience does not understand, but that message needs to be delivered in a different way.
One way to tell Juan that people need clarification is to give negative feedback in a positive format. To do this, the teammate could say something positive, such as “I’m really enjoying this webinar,” and then move on to be specific about the item not understood, as opposed to focusing on Juan as a speaker. For example, the teammate could say, “Could xxx be clarified further? I really want to understand xxx.” This method is called the sandwich method.
The Sandwich Method
The sandwich method is when a person delivers negative feedback by placing it between two positive statements. Let’s take the response above: “I’m really enjoying this webinar. Could xxx be clarified further? I really want to understand xxx.” First, be honest with your positive statement. Observe behaviors that you like. The teammate does this by saying they enjoy the webinar; they are noting that their watching the webinar (behavior) is positive. This affirming statement helps the speaker to feel more open and confident about their presentation. Then, the teammate states specifically what they need more information about, thus taking the negative feedback away from a personal criticism.
Notice that the teammate avoided the pronoun you. The pronoun you makes it seem as though the speaker did something wrong; it makes the feedback personal. “What you said makes no sense at all” focuses on Juan personally. Saying “Could xxx be clarified further?” moves the question away from the personal to a more specific item.
The teammate finished by stating, “I really want to understand xxx.” This is a positive statement. It shows the speaker that the teammate is engaged in the webinar, actively listening, and invested in the overall content. In this case, the sandwich method does a nice job of framing a negative statement (do not understand) into a positive comment that solicits clarification.
For most speech classes, you will be providing feedback to your peers. This is a great way to practice giving effective feedback; it will help you with providing usable feedback in many other life situations. Remember to listen and observe actively, focus on behaviors, be specific, and be reasonable. You can write what went well and mean it. You can also state where there is room for improvement in a reasonable, specific, and behavior-focused manner.
Elements of Effective Feedback
- timely
- behavior-focused
- observation-based
- specific
- reasonable
- contextual
Timely
You have probably heard that “timing is everything.” Though it’s not exactly “everything,” timing does play a role in giving and receiving feedback.
Imagine that Imar completed a small project at the beginning of the performance period at work. As Imar didn’t receive any feedback, he made the assumption that the project was completed well and it was okay. Nine months later when Imar’s performance evaluation was conducted, he learned that there were significant problems with the project. The supervisor was not satisfied with the end product and wrote this into the evaluation. How do you think that Imar feels? Most likely, he is very upset and does not understand what went wrong. Since Imar had not received any feedback, he assumed it all went well. It was upsetting to learn that the project had significant issues. This lack of timely feedback could make Imar start to dislike his job.
This example teaches that feedback must be given close to the event. For presentations, this feedback should be given within a day or two after the event. Timely evaluations allow the speaker to learn what went well and where improvement can be made for the next presentation. For employees, once a project is completed, it is essential to tell others what was done well and what could be fixed or improved. Waiting too long to give feedback leads the person (as in Imar’s example) to believe that everything went well or to wonder what others thought.
Therefore, when you give feedback, consider the timeframe for providing constructive comments. Make sure it is done within a short period after something is completed. The recipient will be glad that you took the time to provide feedback.
Behavioral
Providing good feedback should not focus on the person, but on the behavior. This means that when you tell people what they need to improve, it is better to talk about what they did, as opposed to who they are.
To illustrate, when Mia was giving her introductory speech, Mia was not looking at the audience. It’s better to tell Mia that she could improve her eye contact rather than saying that she didn’t connect with the audience. To say that she didn’t connect with the audience makes it seem like Mia as a person did something wrong. The behavior here is what Mia did with her eyes. Not using eye contact could lead to not connecting with the audience. In truth, Mia just needs to know that she needs to look more at the audience.
If you are in a communicative event and will notice that you aren’t engaged with the speaker, ask yourself, “why?” What is the person doing (behaving) that made you feel this way? Answering why and observing the behavior will allow you to pinpoint what made you feel disengaged. Was it a word that you found offensive? Was it the speaker’s posture? Was it a nonverbal cue? Those answers will help you identify behaviors that got in the way of your engagement. Pointing out these behaviors helps communicators improve and helps them not take the feedback personally.
Observational
Nonverbal communication, verbal utterances, active listening, and feedback all require observation. Much of the observation is subconscious. However, to be an engaged communicator, conscious observation is necessary.
Active listening helps with fine tuning your own observational skills. Observing behaviors helps with deriving meaning, noting nonverbal actions, defining utterances, and providing appropriate feedback. Therefore, one way to improve your active listening and viewing is to pay close attention to everything that the speaker is doing. How are they moving, what do their words mean, how do you interpret their nonverbal behaviors, and so on?
You can use these observations to identify behaviors that the communicator can improve and provide meaningful feedback. Once you observe the behavior and note that it needs improvement, you can specify to the presenter what it is that would help your experience as an audience member.
Specific
Behavior and observation lead into being specific. By giving specific feedback, the presenter is able to improve. They will know exactly what it is that didn’t work for you in their performance. Being too broad and unclear only confuses the person and they are more likely to disregard this feedback instead of exploring how to become better.
For example, let’s go back to Imar. Imar did receive feedback, albeit too late, on the project. He learned that the project didn’t run well. Reading this negative feedback in the evaluation had Imar scratching his head and wondering, “what does that mean? Didn’t run well.” How does this feedback help Imar improve? If Imar is comfortable, he can meet with his supervisor and ask what the feedback means and how he can improve the project. If Imar is not comfortable, he is not going to ask for clarification and thus improve his performance, which might end badly for him as an employee.
Reasonable
Being reasonable means using your common sense when giving feedback. Don’t focus on too much all at once; that can overwhelm people or make them feel inadequate. Conversely, don’t focus on too little either. It is hard to improve if only one comment is given, such as “it didn’t run well.”
It is important to take a balanced approach. You want to give the person some behaviors that really worked well along with those that need improvement. You should consider what is the right amount for both. If you give too much positive feedback, they may feel that the improvements are not important. If you give too little positive feedback, they might think that they did a terrible job. You don’t want either reaction.
One good idea is to note one area of improvement for every two behaviors exhibited. If there are more positive behaviors than needed improvements, you can balance this by stating four things done well and two to improve. It is better to weigh heavier with the positives than negatives. So, make sure to actively listen and observe behaviors and you will find things that work—good word structure, nice gestures, good posture, nice vocal volume, professional clothing, and so on.
Contextual
When giving feedback, keep in mind that there are differences in interpersonal relationships and cultures. What is considered negative by some may not be negative in others. Again, it is important to consider the group context.