If You Want Your People To Give Feedback, You Need To Teach Them How

It is no secret that feedback is an incredibly useful tool. Every company wants their people to work with feedback, give it in time and openly, and thus feed productivity, development, prevent misunderstandings or bigger issues from arising.

But not that many companies train managers, let alone ordinary employees, in how to work with feedback. Feedback is a relatively demanding discipline even for people in managerial roles, having multiple predispositions and support in their roles and in the skills acquired. So why would one demand ordinary employees, untrained, unprepared, give feedback when their supervisors often avoid it?

How do you do something you don't know how to do? You just don't. Or you do it very awkwardly. Which makes it a very unpleasant experience for all involved parties, automatically programming you to avoid doing it in the first place next time. So if you're serious about introducing a sustainable feedback culture, be sure to develop all your people in the art of giving and receiving feedback. 

In return, your people will shift their attitude towards feedback, and will soon realize it is useful rather than something to be afraid of. It will become a common rather than a traumatic experience as they will be able to formulate thoughts constructively and objectively. Feedback formulated in this way is less personal, stripped from unnecessary emotion, and leads to real alignment, development, and increase in overall efficiency.