When you look at a person's performance or the way they do something, you are bound to have your opinion on it.
It’s part of human nature. We look at something, we form an opinion and we choose whether or not to voice it. When you are working with a large contemporary office and you’re a manager, it’s important to know when to give feedback or constructive criticism and when not to.
That brings up another very pertinent question - is feedback or constructive criticism always right? Is the person giving the feedback always the person in the right or is it possible that they’re not seeing things correctly or clearly?
It is easy to assume that the manager is always right and when giving constructive criticism to an employee it is to be followed in order to improve performance. However, it’s also possible that the manager doesn’t quite understand the situation well enough to give feedback, or perhaps they’re not seeing the bigger picture. In some cases, perhaps the employee is the one in the right.
For this reason, it’s vital that when giving feedback or constructive criticism, you do so with discussion in mind, rather than an ‘I’m telling you this’ mindset. As a result, your employee can give their side of things, explain perhaps why they are doing a specific task in this way, or give their opinion on what you’re saying. It doesn't have to be a ‘telling’ session, and it is far better to approach it as a small collaborative session instead, between manager and employee.
Check out this interesting video, which is a TED talk on exploring how we accept feedback as individuals.
Some people automatically become annoyed or defensive when they’re given feedback. They automatically assume that it negative and never see it as something which can be learned from or something they can use as a self-development tool. If you think that you’re guilty of that, perhaps you should try and explore why. Feedback isn’t always meant to be negative, and much of the time a manager will give you feedback in order to help you do something better or to reach your potential.
You might be someone who accepts feedback with no problems whatsoever, but those people are very few and far between! As humans, we see feedback or constructive criticism as something negative and that can easily cause our pride to be hurt.
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Managers have a huge part to play in this because how you deliver feedback as a manager plays a huge part in how an employee responds to it. If you always assume that you’re right and you never give your employee a chance to give their feedback too, it’s not going to cause them to respond in the right way. However, if you sit down in the office booths and have a casual chat with them, explaining that you’re really impressed with what they’ve done so far but you think a particular task could be improved even more by a different approach, you're more likely to get a better response. This is a casual chat, which instantly puts them at ease, and it opens up a discussion, rather than you telling them what to do.
Nobody likes being told what to do, adult or otherwise!
You should also be open to the possibility that your feedback might not be correct. Listen to your employee and take their points on board. Maybe they have some very valid arguments that you could use for your own development as a manager and maybe the task you want to be improved doesn’t actually need improvement at all!
Feedback works both ways, but if you want your employees to respond in the right way, you need to ensure that your approach is positive and focused on collaboration, rather than lecturing.