How To Prepare For A Feedback Conversation

While many people avoid feedback conversations, feedback still needs to happen. And most of the time, especially with the right preparations, it can result in positive changes that lead to improvement and success. Feedback is not always bad. In fact, if we look at it positively, it is usually meant to help us become better.

Unfortunately, one of the problems in the feedback conversation is that people go in under prepared. They are bound to make mistakes and give feedback that is sure to be taken negatively. As a result, the feedback conversation does not go well. This is why, it is important to prepare before a feedback conversation

Generally there are 3 things to consider when preparing for a feedback conversation:

1. Your mindset influences the conversation

Whether you are giving or receiving feedback, it helps if you face it with an open mind. Seeking feedback with an open mind allows you to easily learn from the feedback and grow and develop from it. On the other hand, giving a feedback with an open mind helps you explain the feedback in a way that will help or motivate the other person to take the feedback without any fear or bitterness and use the feedback for their growth and development.

Many studies have proven that feedback seeking behaviour is linked to higher job satisfaction and greater creativity. When we are open to feedback, we have better working relationships and increased trust. In turn, this leads to increased collaboration, problem solving and increased productivity.

2. Your feedback influences behaviour

Your feedback and how you deliver it will affect how the other person will act and behave from that point onwards. There are generally two types of feedback and each affects the behaviour of the other person differently.

Positive feedback is about reinforcing good performance. It’s about clearly articulating what the person is doing well. The feedback needs to highlight why and how the job was done well.

Developmental Feedback is where a person has not performed or met the expectations of their role.  The feedback needs to highlight where the person did not meet expectations and how they could improve their performance in the future.

To be successful in giving and receiving feedback, we need to understand what influences people’s behaviour. It helps if you think about how the feedback will affect you and the other party. When giving positive feedback, it is about appreciating the specific behaviours that the person is doing well and reinforcing them. Alternatively, when giving negative feedback the focus is on the specific behaviours that you want the person to stop or reduce.

3. The workplace influences the conversation

The key to successfully give and receive feedback is to create a psychologically safe environment at work where people feel accepted and respected. Amy Edmondson (Harvard), describes psychologically safe environments as exuding “a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up”.

When people feel safe to speak up and be honest, they give feedback and criticism in the correct mindset, which helps influence the other person to receive the feedback with an open mind and use it for their improvement. It requires both parties to self-disclose and to give honest feedback. And this occurs most often in a psychologically safe environment.

In a feedback conversation, it is important to think about where you are going to give or receive feedback. Aside from the actual work environment, it also helps to consider the room set up. From a psychological safety perspective, it is important to be able to meet in a room that’s private and confidential.

Keep in mind that a feedback conversation is not always meant to make a person feel bad about themselves. In fact, it is the other way around. It is meant to help the other person improve and become better. Unfortunately, it is the manner of delivering the feedback and the circumstances within the feedback conversation that causes it to end negatively.

Always ensure your feedback conversations end successfully by making the right preparations. By encouraging people to give and receive feedback positively, you also help improve your organization and you become a better leader.