Giving Corrective Feedback
- 1. Getting Corrective Feedback Common Strategies Avoidance Physical Emotional Apathy Humour, joking
- 2. Common Strategies Distort Displacement Rationalization Compensation Deny
- 3. Common Strategies Counterattack Verbal Aggression – insults, threats Sarcasm
- 4. Responding Non-Defensively Get Additional Information Ask for specifics Paraphrase Ask what the speaker wants Find out the consequences of your actions
- 5. Responding Non-Defensively Expert level Agree with the truth, or any part of the criticism that may be truthful. Agree that the critic’s perception is true to the critic
- 6. Responding Non-Defensively Mastery Level Ask for Criticism
- 7. Additional “Tips” Expect to feel emotional You are more than your behaviour at any single moment We are all responsible for our own behaviour once we become an adult
- 8. Additional “Tips” Don’t get defensive in the face of generalized, non-specific criticism – clarify first Begin with an empathic statement first rather than a defensive statement
- 9. Additional “Tips” Distinguish between your motive and your behaviour
- 10. Giving Corrective Feedback Try to avoid having to give corrective feedback in the first place by: Being clear and specific about what you are asking for Giving enough information
- 11. Giving Corrective Feedback Having the person repeat to you what s/he thinks is to be done Providing a template or an example Being clear about what parts of the task may be discretionary and what parts must follow specific instructions
- 12. Giving Corrective Feedback Having the person prepare a plan of action that both agree to at the onset and
- 13. Giving Corrective Feedback 2. Remember that just because something is done differently than how you would do it does not mean it is wrong and has to be corrected!
- 14. Giving Corrective Feedback Before you give corrective feedback, ask yourself the following: What, specifically needs to be changed? Why does it need to be changed? (what are the negative consequences of doing it the other way?)
- 15. Giving Corrective Feedback Sometimes the best way to convince someone he is wrong is to let him have his way! Some of us learn from other people’s mistakes, and the rest of us are other people. In some cases it may be better to let the person experience failure and learn from it than for you to correct the potential error ahead of time
- 16. Giving Corrective Feedback Is this a case of the person knowing what to do but choosing not to do it correctly, or a case of not knowing the correct thing to do? Is it A motivation problem or a skill/competency problem?
- 17. Giving Corrective Feedback Teaching addresses competency issues, not motivational issues Consequences affect motivation
- 18. Giving Corrective Feedback Both skill and competency feedback occasions begin with the same steps: 1. Describe the behaviour that needs to be changed 2. Check to make sure that you have an accurate understanding of what happened or the result 3. Ask the person to describe why s/he decided to proceed as s/he did.
- 19. Giving Corrective Feedback Describing behaviour means Describing rather than labelling Identifying objective behaviours – what you saw, heard, etc. rather than motives “ You didn’t get the report in on time” vs. “If you weren’t so lazy you would have finished this before you went home last night.”
- 20. Giving Corrective Feedback Checking for understanding sounds like: “ This is what I saw – have I interpreted this right?”, or, “ This is what it looked like to me. Did I miss anything that would change my conclusion?”
- 21. Giving Corrective Feedback Asking the person for his/her reasoning behind the behaviour sounds like this: “ Usually you’re pretty thorough in getting jobs done, so I’m curious as to what might have caused you to skip a step this time?”
- 22. Giving Corrective Feedback If the reasoning appears to indicate that the person is lacking some fundamental understanding of all the things that needed to be done or at what level of accuracy they needed to be done, then Teach.
- 23. Giving Corrective Feedback If the reasoning appears to indicate a situation where the person knew what to do but chose not to do it, then: Ask why they did it that way See if they can understand your concern Be clear about what the required behaviour is
- 24. Giving Corrective Feedback Have consequences that will apply if the behaviour does not change in the future Express your confidence that the person will be able to meet your expectations
- 25. Giving Corrective Feedback Different Strokes for Different Folks In addition to the content of effective feedback, there are 4 main ways to deliver the feedback: Directly Tactfully Supportively Encouragingly
- 26. Giving Corrective Feedback When criticized, those having a Direct Style may: React aggressively Discount or devalue the validity of the criticism Frame it as a “control issue” Perceive niceness as weakness and ignore it
- 27. Giving Corrective Feedback The Direct Style Be brief and get to the point Provide choices where possible Be firm on outcome, flexible on process where possible Focus on future corrections not past mistakes
- 28. Giving Corrective Feedback When criticized, those having a Conscientious Style may: Give a long explanation to justify what they did Say they were “just following the rules” Physically or emotionally withdraw
- 29. Giving Corrective Feedback The Conscientious Style Have facts, data, to support your position Stay calm Use logic Be willing to take time to revisit entire process Assume they were doing what they thought was right!
- 30. Giving Corrective Feedback When criticized, those having a Steady Style may: Act on hurt feelings by pouting Give in, and refuse to show any initiative in the future Need a great amount of reassurance on future projects Engage in malicious compliance
- 31. Giving Corrective Feedback The Steady Style Acknowledge the effort and work they put into the task Ask them what they had problems with Become part of a team with them to work out a better plan next time Ask how you can help them
- 32. Giving Corrective Feedback When criticized, those having an Influencing Style may: Become angry and emotional Become sarcastic, and snipe Deflect criticism by bragging about other accomplishments Use humour to reduce tension
- 33. Giving Corrective Feedback The Influencing Style Acknowledge their good intentions Acknowledge past good work Use encouragement to support efforts to change Be friendly
- 34. Giving Corrective Feedback Additional points Praise in public, criticize in private Give corrective feedback sooner rather than later Encourage self-evaluation Drop the word “should” – focus on future improvements rather than on past errors Focus on one thing to improve – don’t save up and dump!
- 35. Giving Corrective Feedback Be clear about your motives for giving the feedback Are you annoyed because it created problems for you? Are you angry because you received criticism for something not your fault? Are you sincerely trying to help develop a younger employee?
- 36. Giving Corrective Feedback “ Yes, but” means “No”. When the person you are giving corrective feedback to says this, it is a signal to be quiet and listen to how they see the situation. They are saying that you don’t understand!