Don’t be lazy – Give Specific Feedback!

Imagine you check in with a remote team member in your own team and you give them feedback during your 1:1

“I hear a lot of good things about how you engaged our new customer over the past weeks. Congrats and well done on that!”

Is this already a good way to share feedback?

Not really.

The feedback statement shows no evidence that the feedback-giver has spent any small effort obtaining it. It is not specific and can be said without any knowledge or actual interest. I call this lazy feedback.

One alternative?

“I heard good things about how you engaged our new customer over the past weeks! What I hear and see is that you reflect and confirm at the beginning of most comms what their current needs are. I noticed that it prompted you to re-adjust twice based on that, which helped you build trust with them. Nice!”

See the difference?

Two principles to remember:

1. If feedback could be given to a dog (“well done!”), it’s not good enough. It likely creates little more than a momentary spike.

2. How much time do you spend preparing POSITIVE feedback? If it is much less than what you spend on preparing a criticism, you are likely wasting the potential impact of focused, positive reinforcement.

Let’s not be lazy!