Delivering Negative Feedback

In the operation of business, there will, inevitably, be times when projects don’t go well, mistakes are made, and team members don’t perform at the level that is needed. As a manager, it is often your responsibility to meet with team members to provide negative feedback and work with staff to improve their performance. This can be a very difficult task, and highly uncomfortable for both the manager and the team member. Especially in circumstances where you have an employee who is giving their best and has a great attitude, it can be very difficult to tell them they aren’t performing to expectation.

Early in my career, I made a mistake that is common to many new managers. I absolutely dreaded providing any kind of negative feedback to my direct report employees, and simply avoided doing so unless absolutely necessary. My rationale was that if I provided negative feedback, I would de-motivate the team member, cause them to be uncomfortable, and further exaggerate the problem with low morale. I reasoned that if I provided ample positive feedback on things that were done right, staff would recognize that they didn’t perform to expectation when they didn’t receive positive feedback and make changes accordingly. I further reasoned that problems were either generally minor and limited, and therefore not important in the grand scheme, or if frequent and large, would warrant the termination of the employee. So, I determined the best approach would be to simply let the problems lie, see if the employee improved on their own, and then if they got to a point too great, terminate the employee. As I matured as a manager, I realized that this is about the cruelest approach I could possibly take. Employees could be blindsided by a poor review, or worse yet, a termination they didn’t anticipate.

As I grew in my management abilities, I came to realize that negative feedback is critically important. At first I would use the biannual evaluations as the “right time” to provide negative feedback on problems. However, I realized that this wasn’t timely enough feedback and could result in employees being surprised and de-motivated. A better approach is to provide feedback as soon as possible. By providing both positive and negative feedback regularly, team members can clearly see where they stand, what is expected of them, and how they are progressing.

I’m a firm believer in the adage that a happy worker is a productive worker, and I think this holds true across industries and organizational levels. As such, I’m highly conscious of the morale of my team members and want to be certain that as I provide feedback it doesn’t discourage or harm their morale. Providing negative feedback, however, doesn’t have to de-motivate the employee if delivered constructively and tactfully. It is important to make sure to deliver the information in a non-confrontational manner. You accomplish nothing if the person is instantly on the defensive and feels they have to justify their position. I’ve found an approach that works well is to start by talking about strengths and things that went well, and then broach the problem area with a statement such as “an area I’ve noticed that we could work on”. I generally also try to be very clear with the significance of the issue – is it something that was very damaging to the project or the company, or is it simply something to be aware of an work on for the future. Hopefully, by being very proactive with feedback, most issues will be caught early and will simply be items to work on to avoid future problems. I try to make these conversations very productive oriented; going quickly from the problem to a plan to mitigate the problem. I try to ensure that the employee doesn’t feel the problem will prevents them from being successful in the future, harm the relationship with me as their manager or their team members, and that it is something they are empowered to correct.

The underlying idea of this discussion is that employees are, I believe, very interested in being successful and doing the best job possible. By not providing the employees with negative feedback, you are depriving them of the ability to be successful. Through providing an accurate and timely view of their performance, you encourage the employee to modify their performance to meet the specific organizational needs and demands and perform at their highest level. With this feedback, hopefully your team will become more effective. For those who are not able to adapt, they are able to see for themselves that they are not effective in the environment, and are not blindsided in the event of employment conversations. So, as a strong manager, it is critically important to overcome the discomfort of providing negative feedback, and have these constructive conversations with your employees for the benefit of everyone.