‘Of the ten behaviours and cultural issues that leaders identified as barriers to courage, there was one issue that leaders ranked as the greatest concern: Avoiding tough conversation including giving honest, productive feedback’. Link
Here are ten examples of unclear feedback from recent research I gathered in Australian workplaces in 2023:
When you feel like it is given but you are not quite sure, as the person almost talks in circles.
When I am given non-specific feedback, I’m not sure what I needed to change.
I did not get clear points for improvement. It was very general.
Being told what not to do without clear direction on what I can do.
When no insights or suggestions on how to further improve are provided. When it's just, "That's great."
My manager said it my work was not what he wanted and to go away and ‘try again’ without any feedback or direction on what he actually wanted from the task.
I was left completely confused about what I should improve in, and feeling resentful that I was not being given the time or feedback to improve my performance in my manager's eyes.
Being asked, ‘Do you have the skills to perform this job?’
Receiving feedback, making the changes, then receiving feedback that contradicted earlier comments.
When my manager told me, ‘You make no mistakes, but you need to work faster.’
How clear is your feedback? Here is a simple checklist to check for clarity:
Is the feedback I am offering:
Meaningful to the recipient (important to them, do they care?)
Detailed and specific, rather than global
Within a context e.g. ‘When presenting in the executive meetings…’
Actionable and repeatable
Within their control
Can they make a movie in their mind of what you are saying, of how to implement it, what action to take? (e.g., ‘Step into your authority’ is hard to make a movie of!)
Then check in with the recipient of your feedback. In the Feedback Fitness Framework, we do this in the cooldown stage, one minute after the feedback conversation, one day after the feedback conversation, and one week after the feedback conversation.