Feedback

What Is Feedback?

Definition of Feedback: The process of giving or receiving suggestions about an individual’s performance from peers, managers, or leadership.

The purpose of feedback is to help individuals improve their overall professional performance and motivate them to reach success. While the idea of feedback looks straightforward, it can be packaged in a variety of ways. Quality of feedback includes positive, negative, and constructive feedback. While sources of feedback involve your peers, colleagues, or even 360-degree feedback.

Remember: Feedback is not meant to intentionally criticize or tear you down. In fact, it’s the secret formula to transform you into a superhuman. Effective, actionable, and constructive feedback identifies areas of improvement and uncovers your blindspots.

Why Feedback Is Important

While it can be daunting to ask for or give feedback, it’s the most valuable piece of intel you can get about yourself. Feedback is essential and critical to your career development. Stepping out of your comfort zone when it comes to feedback can have tremendous positive outcomes.

Feedback is about advising not judging. An effective, but friendly approach boosts productivity, fuels great transformations, and inspires professionals to reach their goals faster. Not to mention, it establishes a healthy work culture. Feedback allows teams to openly communicate with each other, prevent future conflicts, and resolve roadblocks quickly.

Different Types of Feedback

Peer Feedback

Peer reviews are sourced from individuals who work with you. It encompasses people within your company like colleagues or those externally like vendors, freelancers, and clients. Or, it can be outside of your day-to-day job like friends or family. Peer feedback is not limited to professional walls, it gives you an opportunity to grow from all angles.

Employee Feedback

Providing or receiving employee feedback is solely focused on your team or company. It can come from your colleagues, manager, or other cross-functionally teams. This insight can help you achieve your professional goals.

360-Degree Feedback

This type of feedback is a combination of peer and employee reviews. 360-degree feedback includes your peers, manager, skip-level manager — anyone from your team’s most junior member to the company’s CEO. Even freelancers who are self-employed can benefit from 360-degree feedback. This system is designed to identify actionable changes and create higher visibility within your team.

How to Give Better Feedback

Constructive Feedback

This feedback fosters a belief that the receiver of feedback has it in them to grow and reach new heights. Constructive feedback is information-based and weaves in observations to remain objective. This is the most effective method of relaying feedback since it sticks to facts, keeps emotions out, and gives clear directions to the path of success.

Positive Feedback

Praising team members is common during the feedback process. This method elevates a professional’s self-esteem and confidence. Who doesn’t love getting a little shout-out? However, it’s important to balance the praise with constructive feedback. It’s this dynamic combination that will contribute to their high-performing teams.

Negative Feedback

Avoid giving negative feedback at all cost. Negative feedback criticizes a person beyond their performance. It targets behavior, judges the overall character, and may come off as destructive. It can leave professionals feeling discouraged or even trigger defensiveness. Ultimately, this is not how to give feedback.

How to Get Started

Consistency is key. Whether it’s through a calendar reminder or email, we recommend gathering feedback proactively and regularly with a tool like Matter. We are designed to help professionals get comfortable with feedback while achieving their goals.

Whether it’s giving or receiving feedback, we want to see you professionally grow. To create a rich feedback culture it starts with you. Send that kudos, request feedback, start plotting your progress. Just take that first step. Remember, we believe that everyone deserves feedback. Even you!