We all have to give and take on board feedback at some point in our working lives, but managers tend to dish out the criticism and praise a bit more than everyone else. When giving out feedback however, it can often be off the cuff or in the moment. For positive feedback, it can come across as too nonchalant and casual and for negative feedback, it can seem overly reactionary. So, with this in mind, how can you as a manager, offer structured, cohesive and, most importantly, constructive feedback to your employees that they’ll be able to run with going forward?
Think It Through
An important factor when giving feedback is to thoroughly think through the point you’re about to make - this goes doubly for negative feedback. Give it a while to consider the implications of what the employee’s achievement or blunder has on the bigger picture. This way, when you verbalise your feedback to them, there’s a level of context where they can directly see the importance of what they’ve done, or perhaps, haven’t done.
Wundamail is the simple, modern way to manage teams of every shape and size. By condensing group thinking into a single daily email, Wundamail empowers leaders, supports team members, and makes things simple for everyone. Due to Wundamail having a set time for communication and enabling you to reply to your team each day, it gives you the structure within your working day to consider your feedback and allows the whole team to see. This way not only does each individual employee receive feedback on their project but, due to the compiled responses being sent to the whole team, it also holds them accountable for acting on said feedback going forward.
Structure It Properly
This tends to be the biggest problem when giving any feedback to your team members. Now, this does tie into taking the time to think over your feedback fully, but the physical structure of how you deliver your comments can make all the difference. For instance, if you don’t give enough detail in your feedback, your employees might not have enough to go on to improve their performance. Conversely, a full essay might make them feel overwhelmed and dent their confidence in their own work going forward.
By offering a specified context, outlining your reasoning, finally ending with some pointers for the future, it allows for a simple but concise response that leaves very little room for interpretation. In doing this, you also create a standardised way of giving and receiving feedback that your whole team will understand, expect and appreciate. Integrating personal feedback into the day-to-day running of the department, using Wundamail’s daily emails, gives your entire team the reassurance that you’re on top of everything and allows a standard opportunity for responding.
Give Opportunity For Replies
This is a massive one. No matter how busy the department might be, you must always allow your employees the opportunity to question your feedback. This might be just to elaborate further on what you’ve already said, or it could be disagreeing with your stance altogether. This kind of two-way communication is an invaluable source for any manager. Not only can you see what the team are working on, but you can measure the morale via their replies.
A simple way to get this kind of open discussion and information from your team is to switch up the daily question with your own specific content. This can be based off someone’s comment from the previous compilation or something that you noticed in the office that day. Wundamail’s flexibility when it comes to each daily question is something that can be used for a number of purposes - you can really hone in on what is making your team tick and find out any gripes that might have. This way you can really track where the gaps in your team’s day-to-day processes are, ask them why, and ultimately, hold people accountable.
Feedback is a critical part of management and a great way to instill employees with a sense of both responsibility and accountability. Wundamail is designed to inspire powerful behavioural change within organisations of every shape and size. By using daily emails in your day-to-day working life, Wundamail has the power to deliver real behavioural changes within your team.
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