We are all aware of the impact it has on us when someone thinks about us. Any judgment that we do not perceive as a compliment or compliment, we experience as an intrusion into our privacy and even as a threat or grievance. The automatic behavior that arises in these cases is to close our listening, activate our defense mechanisms and build a wall where judgments that are not to our liking rebound.
However, on many occasions, these opinions can enable us to realize some area of incompetence or possible improvement and, therefore, they can become a door to learning and optimizing our performance.
The way of exchanging opinions with other people is of great importance in our lives and becomes a critical element for the proper functioning of any work team. This is so because the competence of giving and receiving judgments has multiple scopes, since it impacts relationships and the quality of ties and, therefore, affects group emotionality, bonds of trust and willingness to collective action. This is why the constructive exchange of opinions among the members of a work team is a vital element for its proper functioning and for its development and productivity.
Likewise, the ability to provide feedback effectively is one of the essential tools for leadership performance. The leader must take responsibility for the development of his team members and facilitate the processes of learning and change, and in this sense one of the ways to carry out these responsibilities is through the delivery of their opinions about their performance..
Giving feedback in order to improve certain behaviors or to overcome problematic situations is part of the role of coach that every leader must perform. Feedback does not imply a judgment on the characteristics of the person, but must be based on observable behaviors and aim to expand the capacity for action and improve its effectiveness.
This feedback for the action that the leader provides to the members of his team, is not something that should only be done once a year in the “performance evaluation”, but it is a tool of daily use that serves to optimize the performance of team members. All feedback is intended to reinforce, improve or correct the way people do things or their behavior.
Reinforce: Many times it is assumed that the manager only has to give feedback to a problem or inconvenience and, in fact, this tool also serves to reinforce positive behaviors, motivate employees and generate an imitation effect on other team members. It also emotionally predisposes the person to the opportunity when they have to receive feedback intended to modify a behavior.
Improve or Correct: Feedback in this circumstance aims to optimize the effectiveness of people, based on the parameters and standards established and agreed by the team. It constitutes an important contribution that the leader provides to her collaborators, since it generates the possibility for the individual to visualize their areas of improvement, learn from their own practice, capitalize on their mistakes and improve their capacity for action.
We consider that for a feedback to achieve the expected result it must meet a set of requirements that we could summarize in an effective feedback Decalogue:
1. Feedback should aim to reinforce, improve, or correct some behavior, but never create blame for the recipient. Feedback is not criticism or reprimand.
2. Feedback must generate an emotionality that is functional to take actions that optimize the person's performance. In pursuit of this goal, whoever has to deliver feedback must choose the appropriate and opportune moment, and prepare emotionally for such an event. You should be calm and ready to carry on the conversation and never use this circumstance to attack or make an emotional discharge.
3. Feedback must be properly contextualized within the framework of shared tasks and agreed objectives. The effect and consequences of the behavior to be corrected or improved should be noted.
4. Feedback must be properly substantiated (focused on a specific domain, supported by observable facts, with explicit parameters for measurement and comparison). Concrete examples of two or three specific situations should be provided. Avoid disqualifications and all kinds of generalization.
5. Feedback should be focused on the behaviors or behaviors and not on the identity or the particular characteristics of the person.
6. Feedback must propose open reasoning that explains why this opinion is reached and must provide space for discussion.
7. Feedback should include inquiry that makes it possible to hear and understand the other's point of view. You should compare your interpretation of the facts with the person's explanation of them and be willing to review or modify your opinion.
8. Feedback should tend to strengthen bonds and increase the self-esteem of the other and never satisfy the ego of the person doing it.
9. Feedback should be focused on the future and not on the past. The results that are intended to be achieved and how they will benefit the person and the organization must be made explicit. Behavior change should be considered through the request for specific behaviors.
10. The feedback must end with the commitment about the actions to be taken.
Although we emphasize the importance of feedback in the workplace and especially in the task of driving and leadership, we can say that it is a necessary competence for all areas of our lives. It is important that when it is opportune and necessary that we know how to effectively provide feedback to our children, our partner or our friends and that we are also predisposed and available to receive it.
