Feedback is workplace conversation currency
Ruth Harrowfield – BA/BSc, MSc Hons, PGDip I/O Psych, PGDip Science (Cl. Psych)
I think of feedback with your people as being like money in the bank. 💰💰
Constructive feedback is like making a withdrawal. And the deposits are the positive feedback.
Just like with your money, when it’s time to make a withdrawal, you really wanna be sure you’ve been making regular deposits.
Giving positive feedback puts goodwill in the bank – it strengthens the relationship between you and ensures they are not overly discouraged when constructive feedback is shared.
In a successful relationship the ratio of positive to negative interactions is 5:1. Ideally, a leader should give their team members recognition or appreciation of their efforts at least once every couple of weeks.
But it’s important to keep positive and constructive feedback messages separate – not to ‘sandwich’ a constructive feedback message between two positives. People need a lot of encouragement, but if it is given right before giving constructive feedback it can seem disingenuous – like you’re buttering them up before you stick the knife in!
If you regularly give clear and purposeful recognition of strong performance, then people will be ready for you to give some honest feedback about problems and opportunities.
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I’m Ruth Harrowfield, an organisational psychologist based in Auckland, New Zealand. Together with my partner, Sam, we run Harrowfield People Development, a strategic learning agency. We help business leaders who are unsure how to grow the people they want to hold on to, for the purposes of engagement, productivity and organisational growth.
Working to a specific client brief, we draw on the disciplines of organisational and behavioural psychology to determine and execute strategic and tactical programmes for personal and team development. We help business leaders to bring out the potential that they see in their people by shaping habits of thinking, communication and action in the workplace. Talk to us today.
