Short answer: Give constructive feedback in seven steps: identify the specific area, describe what you observed and stick to the facts, walk through your reaction without being accusatory, let the person respond, offer concrete suggestions, set a follow-up meeting, then keep providing support.
What decides whether it lands is objectivity: base it on observations and facts, not opinions. Use “us” and “we” statements rather than “you” statements, and skip the long preamble, the sugarcoating and any judgmental language.
What is constructive feedback?
Just like feedback, constructive feedback is comprised of a team member’s overall performance and can be used to build (cough, cough construct) skills and behaviors to make them successful in their career. Constructive feedback can come in two approaches:
- Positive feedback is easier for leaders to give because it’s easier to praise and celebrate peers for their work. However, this also makes it easy to grow complacent as opposed to pushing for improvement when giving constructive feedback.
- Negative feedback is oftentimes difficult to address. It’s natural for people to put off difficult conversations or to be in confrontational situations.
It’s important to emphasize that negative feedback isn’t always destructive feedback. Destructive feedback happens when the feedback is accusatory, judgemental, and leaves the individual attacked than helped.
Depending on which route you take when it comes to constructive feedback, focus on how you can deliver actionable items instead of aimless criticism. Think about these ideas when compiling your feedback:
- Delivery. To ensure that your feedback doesn’t come off as subjective, accusatory, and personal, focus on your delivery. Instead of “you” statements, try using “us” and “we” statements. For example, change “You need to be more responsive.” to, “Let’s come up with an action plan to see how we can better our communication.”
- Objectivity. The most important part of constructive feedback is basing it on observations and facts. There’s no room for opinions. Be specific, concise, provide examples, and tailor the feedback to the area of improvement.
Why is constructive feedback important?
Whether you’re in a leadership position or not, constructive feedback is important for every part of your career. And it’s this constant feedback that will help you develop the professional and personal skills to help you achieve your goals. When it comes to your career, here are a few ways constructive feedback can leave an imprint:
- Constructive feedback boosts professional development. If you receive actionable, specific, and timely feedback from your peers or leadership, this is impactful to your professional development. Since you’re able to implement the feedback right away, it’s easier to make that progression.
- Constructive feedback deepens rapport. When feedback becomes a ritual among an organization and is constantly practiced, it encourages people to be honest and communicative. Over time, your team’s culture, trust, and transparency will strengthen.
- Constructive feedback addresses expectations. Regular feedback eliminates the guesswork from what is expected, from the employee and the manager. It opens up a conversation to improve the overall employee-manager relationship and sets clear expectations on both sides.
How to give constructive feedback
According to a study called “The Power of Feedback,” by the University of Auckland, researchers found that supplying people with specific information about what they are doing right or wrong is vital to personal and professional development.
With that being said, how you give constructive feedback matters. Here’s a framework to help ensure that the feedback given prompts the best results:
- Identify the specific areas for constructive feedback
- Describe what you have observed and stick to the facts
- Walkthrough your reaction to the observation without being accusatory
- Allow your peer to respond and explain their perspective
- Offer concrete suggestions and ideas on how to improve
- Set up a follow-up meeting to see progress and discuss any roadblocks
- Continue to provide support and encouragement
Three frameworks for delivering constructive feedback
The seven steps above tell you what to cover. These three frameworks give you a shape for the conversation itself. None of them is the only right answer, and they combine well.
1. The Feedback Sandwich
The Feedback Sandwich gets its name because it uses two pieces of positive reinforcement (behavior the person should continue) like bread on either side of the constructive part, the more critical information that points out where to grow. It softens the delivery, but keep the middle specific or the whole thing reads as empty praise.
2. The Rosenberg method
This is a respectful way of communicating the giver's observations, feelings, needs, and requests. Observations are what you saw and heard. Feelings are only the emotions those observations provoked, not evaluations of what the other person intended.
You then say what you need in a similar situation and make a clear request. Phrase the last part as an actual request, never a demand. There is a big difference in the reaction you get between "You need to..." and "Would you be willing to...?"
3. Stop, Keep, Start (SKS)
Also known as the SKS method, this may be the easiest framework for beginners. Ask yourself three questions before you frame your feedback:
- What can I tell this person to stop doing?
- What should this person keep doing?
- What can I suggest that this person start doing?
It is one of the most actionable forms of constructive feedback, though be careful not to overweight the negatives or you will be perceived as simply critical. Here is SKS in action, applied to a manager who kept looking at a screen during a pitch:
- Stop: "John, when Tom and I came to you about the new software proposal, it felt like we didn't have your full attention because you kept your eyes on your computer screen while we talked."
- Keep: "We appreciate that you encourage us to bring all new ideas your way, no matter how bold they sound."
- Start: "If it's something you really aren't interested in pursuing, would you be willing to tell us that upfront? If it's a bad time, could you give us a timeframe in which you'll get back to us?"
- Why it helps the team: "That way, we know what to expect, have less anxiety over the issue, and know where to put our energy."
Whichever framework you use, anchor the feedback in a specific situation ("Tom and I came to you about our proposal"), a definitive behavior ("you never looked up from your screen"), and the impact it had ("that left us feeling you were disinterested but didn't want to say so"). Framing it around impact keeps the criticism from feeling pointed, and the lack of judgment makes it easier to hear without anger or fear.
What’s not constructive feedback
Now that we’ve guided you to know how to give constructive feedback, here’s a list of what NOT to do when giving your peers constructive feedback.
- Sugarcoating negative feedback
- Stating what you’re unhappy about without offering clear expectations
- Giving only positive feedback
- Mistaking valid reasons for excuses
- Using judgmental or shaming language
- Delivering a long preamble before giving the negative feedback
Difference between constructive feedback and criticism
If you want to give great feedback, the kind that’s accepted, appreciated, and taken to heart, then you have to leave the Negative Nancys behind. They don’t provide insightful feedback at all, they criticize. And we know how counter-productive criticism is. But feedback, on the other hand, is the breakfast of champions.
Feedback can be given in three ways: Through constructive feedback, recognition and praise, and criticism. When it comes to helping your peers achieve success, don’t fall into the trap of focusing on just positive feedback and criticism. According to Benedictine University, here’s the difference between constructive criticism and feedback:
- Criticism is focused on what we don’t want; feedback is focused on what we want.
- Criticism is focused on the past; feedback is focused on the future.
- Criticism is focused on weakness; feedback helps to build up strengths.
- Criticism says, “You are the problem.” Feedback says, “We can make this better.”
- Criticism deflates; feedback inspires.
Constructive feedback examples
Whether it’s peer-to-peer, employee, or 360-degree feedback, there’s a way to approach your team members. You can use the following workplace scenarios and examples to guide you when navigating tricky work situations and providing constructive feedback.
Scenario 1. Jamie has been on your team for a year now. Lately, she seems disengaged and not motivated to work or complete her tasks.
Approach: “I have noticed that you don’t seem as motivated to do work as you usually do. I wanted to check in to see how you’re doing. If there are reasons why you feel this, I would love to talk with you about it and come up with an action plan.”
Scenario 2. Vinay has been constantly showing up late for work.
Approach: “I’ve noticed that you’ve been arriving to work later than usual. I would like you to arrive on time please because it impacts our team and deliverables. What do you think?”
Scenario 3. Victoria has recently switched her leadership approach to be less involved.
Approach: “I noticed that you’ve adopted a new back-seat leadership approach and stepped back from some responsibilities that you used to do. To be honest and straightforward, it makes me feel like you haven’t put your best foot forward. What can I do to better support you and address your concerns.”
Positive constructive feedback examples
Constructive feedback is not only for problems. Positive feedback is constructive when it names the specific thing that worked so the person can repeat it. "You're doing a good job" has far less impact than "I really appreciated how quickly you built these wireframes; they've been very helpful already." A few examples:
- For teamwork: "I really enjoyed working with you on that project, and I think we made a real difference."
- For individual work: "Looking over the report, I can see how much time you put into it. You did a great job."
- For specific work: "I liked the format of the report; it was very easy to follow."
- For timeliness: "It was great that you finished the project on time. Let's make sure this happens again next week."
- For preparation: "Checking with everyone about questions on the meeting agenda was really helpful. Thanks for being prepared."
Give this kind of feedback promptly, not saved up for a formal review. If you catch someone doing something right, tell them that day. The sooner feedback can be acted on, the better.
