Five Strategies For Giving Hard Feedback Remotely
It can be tricky to give hard feedback when you aren't face to face to alleviate the discomfort that comes with a difficult conversation. And, on top of this, in an already challenging time, you have to be cautious of not sinking employee morale too heavily. Your team, however, craves the feedback you are reluctant to give. In a study conducted by HBR interviewing 899 employees across multinational companies, a significantly larger number of individuals– 57%–preferred corrective feedback; while only 43% preferred praise and recognition. After speaking with our community of executives, founders, and managers, we have discovered five strategies to help you deliver this hard feedback in an effective and encouraging way.
Establish a regular rhythm to checking in with your team to provide performance guidance. In your 1:1s, once a week set up a habit of providing your team with feedback, checking in with them to ways to keep things moving in the right direction and keep people motivated. Follow up with your team and acknowledge when improvements are made.
Pause to reflect, think about what you are going to say, and center yourself. If you rush into giving the feedback you want to give, it's likely that you will lose a key element of compassion, and the impact and guidance you want to have on your teammate will not land correctly.
Use the SBI model of situation, behavior, and impact. Describe when the issue you would like to work on took place. Then detail the behavior you would like to correct. Then, ask individual you are speaking with to reflect on the impact their behavior had on their other team members, allowing them to more clearly understand the repercussions of their actions.
Always use video chat and with your body language indicate that you are calm and relaxed, and then in your facial expression appear focused, and as you deliver the feedback allow for there to be a back and forth between you and your teammate so they feel heard and cared for. Listen to your teammate and allow for there to be pauses in the conversation so your teammate has time to process the heavy information you are giving them.
Focus on the future, and take time after you have given your feedback to map out how it can actually be implemented! Use the SMART goals format, where these future steps are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. As you map out these goals, your teammate receiving the feedback, will see step by step, your reasoning for what you’re asking them to do, and effectively have more buy-in. Ask your teammate what THEY think is a good course of action. When individuals take ownership of a solution, they are more committed to implementing it than if they are told what to do by their manager. As you come to this plan, reiterate your availability and support in helping your teammate achieve their solution and balance any perceived negativity with overwhelming positivity in the form of encouragement.
You Got This.
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At OverTime Leader we provide executive leadership and management advisory for technology-enabled businesses and teams. If you are looking to spark a people-powered change in your business our team has a toolbox full of ways to help you get started.
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