- everydayfeedback
Four Weeks to Fantastic Feedback: Week II — Prioritize Changes You Need From Each Person
Updated: Nov 3, 2020
You will miss out on the value of giving feedback if you don’t figure out what is be best to talk about with each person. You’ll need to sit down and write separate notes for each person before having the conversation.
Here are three questions that will help you clarify what you want to focus on in each feedback conversation.
#1—What are the 3 tasks the person does that has the greatest impact on team results? For instance, they may be responsible for turning in a monthly report to corporate, but following up with an important client has a bigger effect on the team’s success. Now look for two more.
#2—What important improvements or actions would most help that person get better results? This can apply to positive feedback or corrective feedback. For instance, for someone doing great work, you can ask them to lead a project, explain their process to the whole team, or learn a new skill. For someone who is missing the boat on customer service, you can suggest that they ask more questions and listen to their customers in more detail.
#3—Which of these high-priority action items do you think this person can change quickly and readily? Your goal with each person is to gain positive results they (and you) can be proud of! Therefore you want to tilt the first feedback meeting toward a win-win change that won’t make them feel stuck. Which of these changes will most motivate them to make continuous improvements? If they have shown reluctance to change in the past, make sure you have broken down the action step into something they are likely to be able to do without a huge amount of training or coaching.
Now select one or, at most, two of these action items for each person. Take a look at your overall list and make sure that all of these changes people will be making add up to a significant boost in overall team output. Relax into a positive vision for how excited everyone will be at their own success and the overall team’s success as a result of fantastic feedback!
Read The Feedback Imperative for more information on how to give great feedback!