How to give feedback
Golden oldies week on the blog. All from Small is the New Big.
Blog readers are far more likely to be asked
for their input than the average employee. You’re frequently required
to approve, improve, and adjust things that are about to become real.
And yet, if you’re like most people, you’re pretty bad at it.
In the interest of promoting your career, making your day at work
more fun, improving the work life of your colleagues, and generally
making my life a whole lot better, I’d like to give you some feedback
on giving feedback. As usual, the ideas are simple–it’s doing them
that’s tricky.
The first rule of great feedback is this: No one cares about your opinion.
I don’t want to know how you feel, nor do I care if you would buy
it, recommend it, or use it. You are not my market. You are not my
focus group.
What I want instead of your opinion is your analysis. It does me no
good to hear you say, "I’d never pick that box up." You can add a great
deal of value, though, if you say, "The last three products that
succeeded were priced under $30. Is there a reason you want to price
this at $31?" Or, "We analyzed this market last year, and we don’t
believe there’s enough room for us to compete. Take a look at this
spreadsheet." Or even, "That font seems hard to read. Is there a way to
do a quick test to see if a different font works better for our
audience?"
Analysis is a lot harder than opinion because everyone is entitled
to his or her own taste (regardless of how skewed it might be). A
faulty analysis, however, is easy to dismantle. But even though it’s
scary to contribute your analysis to a colleague’s proposal, it’s still
absolutely necessary.
The second rule? Say the right thing at the right time.
If you’re asked to comment on a first-draft proposal that will
eventually wind its way to the chairman’s office, this is not the time
to point out that "alot" is two words, not one. Copyediting the
document is best done just once, at the end, by a professional. While
it may feel as if you’re contributing something by making comments
about currently trivial details, you’re not. Instead, try to figure out
what sort of feedback will have the most positive effect on the final
outcome, and contribute it now.
Far worse, of course, than the prematurely picky comment is the
way-too-late deal-breaker remark. If I’ve built a detailed plan for a
new factory in Hoboken, New Jersey (and negotiated all the variances
and integrated the existing landscaping), the time to tell me you were
thinking of relocating the plant to Secaucus was six months ago, not
the night before the groundbreaking.
The third rule? If you have something nice to say, please say it.
I’ve been working with someone for about a year, and in that entire
time, he’s never once prefaced his feedback with, "This was a really
terrific piece of work," or "Wow! This is one of the best ideas I’ve
heard in a while." Pointing out the parts you liked best is much more
than sugarcoating. Doing so serves several purposes. First, it puts you
on the same side of the table as me, making it more likely that your
constructive criticism will actually be implemented. If you can start
by seeing the project through my eyes, you’re more likely to analyze
(there’s that word again) the situation in a way that helps me reach my
goals. "I think it’s great that you want to get our quality ratings up.
Let’s see whether the added people you say this initiative requires are
really necessary, and whether beginning your report with staffing needs
is the best way to get this past senior management."
Second, it makes it so much more likely that I will come to you for
feedback in the future. It’s easy to interpret the absence of positive
feedback as the absence of any sort of approval or enthusiasm. Finally,
being nice to people is fun.
If I haven’t intimidated you with my other rules, here’s the last one: Give me feedback, no matter what.
It doesn’t matter if I ignored your feedback last time (maybe that’s
because you gave me your opinion, not an analysis). It doesn’t matter
if you’re afraid your analysis might ultimately be a little shaky. It
doesn’t matter if you’re the least powerful person in the room. What
matters is that you’re smart; you understand something about the
organization, the industry, and the market; and your analysis (at the
very least) could be the kernel of an idea that starts me down a
totally different path.