Feedback collection is part of the review process in most of the organizations. You will be asked to provide feedback on coworkers and coworkers will also be asked to provide feedback about. We will provide some general best practices and guidelines and then focus specifically on providing feedback about others as well as how you can influence others to provide feedback about you.

Why Feedback is Important:

From Employee’s perspective: They want to know what they are doing right and where they need to make amends. Those who are sincere about their career and growth put lot of time and effort in understanding other’s opinion about them and areas needing further development.

From Management perspective: Feedback through peer coworkers, partners, managers etc. provides a holistic view of the employee. It helps in identifying strengths and weaknesses which goes as an input into individual growth plan of the employee.

From Provider’s perspective: This is your opportunity to make an impact across the organization. It helps reinforcing good behavior while discouraging practices that may be determinantal to the project or employee growth.

Below are some guidelines that you can use to manage the feedback process.

Prepare for Feedback: 

Providing feedback requires time and effort. Generally, feedback is divided into three categories.

  • What does this person do right?
  • What does this person need to stop?
  • What does this person need to start doing?

It is important to put time aside and think of examples in all the above categories. Feedback providers should not miss providing feedback or take this lightly. Many times, feedback is solicited by managers. This is your opportunity to impress them with your thorough observation, critical thinking, specific examples and actionable feedback. Not providing feedback signals that either you do not care or do not have the ‘skill set’ to provide the feedback. It is OK to write that you have worked only for a limited time, providing your first thoughts and may not have a rounded view yet.

Focus on the Behavior not Person: Employee behavior and performance can change significantly across different projects. It is important to focus on the behavior in the specific period for which you are writing the review. For example, if you are providing feedback on the last quarter, focus only for that duration. It is possible that employee may have got suggestion on behavior from the earlier quarter and already made amends there. Seeing it come again can be a bit frustrating.

Provide Examples: While it is good to give examples on all kinds of feedback, it is critical when you are suggesting that a behavior need to stop. Constructive feedback without specific examples can be frustrating for the person receiving the feedback as well as the manager. Don’t leave people scratching their heads!

Timely Feedback: Feedback needs to be timely for it to be effective. Many times, feedback goes in performance evaluation of the employee and calibrations. Making sure feedback lands in time before these events or it can be frustrating for you as well as the employee.

Ask for Feedback directly: If you have been asked to provide feedback about an employee specially a peer or someone higher in the chain from you, it may not be a bad idea to ask him/her to provide some content that may help you in writing feedback. This has multiple advantages; people can easily highlight the good things about them, so it should provide you good content and examples on what the employee is doing right. This doesn’t mean that you need to copy and paste all the content as is, you can use it to build your version of the feedback and capitalize on what you have received.

Write a Self-Evaluation and Share Appropriately: When you are certain that some of your coworkers will be asked give feedback about you, be proactive and write a self-evaluation (mostly focusing on the good work that you have done) and share it with them. Most people hate writing feedback about others and this will come very handy to the. You can also make it informal over 1:1 sync or lunch on all good things you have done or influenced and why you feel this quarter has been great. You may also illicit other person’s thoughts or ideas.

Don’t Assume Feedback is Confidential: While it is mostly said that feedback is confidential, take it with a pinch of salt. Organizational politics, frequent reorgs, people moving teams and changing loyalties etc. may leave very little confidentiality associated with feedback. A good rule of thumb is to write feedback in such a way as if you will deliver it directly to that person. This will keep you objective, honest and sincere about the feedback.

Recognize in Public and Criticize in Person:  When providing 1:1 feedback, remember the golden rule about recognizing in public and criticizing in private. Even a friendly criticism in public can remain in people’s memory for a long time. If delivered objectively and with sincerity, in person feedback/advice can not only help immediate work-related issues but also form long term professional bonds.

Choose Feedback Providers Carefully: Many times, you will be given an option to choose the list of people who will be asked to give feedback on you. Pick up a good mix of coworkers among peers, managers, juniors etc. You want a mix that provides as much positive feedback about you as possible.

Deal with Everyone as Potential Feedback Provider: Our behavior can be selective based on the rank and file of the people within the organization. While it is good to be cognizant of people’s standing within the org, if you deal with everyone as if this person will write your next feedback/review, you will not have to worry about the feedback too much.

Extra Caution Around Feedback Season: Make extra effort to be nice when feedback season is close by. Human memory is short, and people remember immediate past way more clearly. Whether its quarterly reviews or annual cycles, be aware of the time of year in your dealing all around.

Providing Feedback about your Manager: While many of above best practices apply for providing feedback about your manager. I urge you to be extra cautious on the ‘improvements’ part. While you may be frustrated with your manager about not being promoted or recognized enough, the reality is that your manager is your best spokesperson. Stay in the good books if your report to him/her. If you have a weak manager or he doesn’t value, you enough then move to a different manager or team.

Feedback go into employee’s performance profile. They will stay in the record as long as he/she work there. If you are changing teams within the company, there is high chance that any potential managers will read through them before hiring you. Give them their due importance and follow above guidelines to make the best out of it.