Manager's Briefcase
Giving and Receiving Feedback - Chapter 2
Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
©2005 by Pamela Lizardi, M.Ed.
May be used as is or with alterations if proper credit is given to the author.

Editor’s note: This is the second of eight installments of Pam’s course materials. One chapter will be posted each month here on the website. If you need future installments sooner than that, email me at schopicp@sconet.state.oh.us to request the course sooner. Feel free to contact Pam Lizardi directly at PLizardi@courthr.maricopa.gov. Also, please be sure to let us know what you think of these materials and our including them on the website in monthly installments. A JERITT prompt will go out to you all each time an installment is posted.

Chapter Two - Useful Feedback Is Detailed Feedback

Chapter Objectives

• Understand the importance of detailed feedback.
• Recognize the features of detailed feedback.
• Recognize the roles that those giving and receiving feedback play in creating detailed feedback.

Creating Detailed Feedback
In Chapter 1 we defined workplace feedback as information we provide fellow teammates about their job performance and their work-related behavior in order to help them meet individual, group, and organizational goals. We’ve already seen that the nature of that information helps determine whether our feedback will be effective or not: useful feedback focuses on acts rather than attitudes, is goal oriented, and is always given in the spirit of mutual support.

A key feature that helps make feedback useful is the amount of detail it provides. Feedback is most helpful when it provides as much detailed information about our actions as possible. We can make sure that feedback is detailed by remembering these simple guidelines:

• Detailed feedback is specific.
• Detailed feedback is accurate.
• Detailed feedback is inquiring.

Detailed Feedback Is Specific

• “I just don’t like the way you arranged that display. Change it!”
• “The ad copy you wrote just doesn’t ‘click.’ You know what I mean.”
• “Try to put a little more ‘oomph’ in your presentations. Wake people up!”

You’ve probably heard statements like these before. They are attempts at redirection, but they’re poor ones. They don’t give the person receiving the feedback enough specific information to make changes in his or her actions. The most the receiver can do in each case is to try again, but without specific information, that attempt will be just another shot in the dark. The receiver may have to make several attempts before he or she hits on something the person giving the feedback likes. This is a waste of time and resources as well as a drain on morale.

You can avoid situations like this by making your feedback as specific as possible. Before giving feedback to another person, try to recall as much specific information as you can about the action you want to redirect or reinforce. You might begin by asking yourself what, when, where, who, and how:

• What happened?
• Where and when did it occur?
• Who was involved?
• How did it affect others?

With these questions in mind, consider this alternative to our third example:

• “Your presentations always include a wealth of new ideas, but you don’t sound personally excited about the things you’re suggesting. Your voice is often very soft and monotone, and your rate of speaking can be very slow. Our surveys show that your audience members think you sound bored with your topic, and that makes them feel bored, too. Are there some things you could do to make your enthusiasm for your topic more evident to your listeners?”

This revised example tells the feedback recipient specifically what he’s been doing (not projecting enthusiasm for his material), where and when he’s been doing it (during presentations), who it involves (his listeners), and how it affects them (makes them feel bored). The recipient will be able to redirect his efforts with much less confusion and effort than if he had received the feedback in our earlier example.

It is also important to be specific when giving reinforcing feedback as well. Consider the difference between these two statements:

• “Great report, Kari. Keep up the good work.”
• “I liked the way you incorporated the two graphs into your report this month, Kari. They made it much easier to follow the cash flow. I hope you’ll do it again.”

Kari will be better able to repeat her report-writing efforts based on the specific information in the second example

Detailed Feedback Is Accurate
Feedback can do little good if it inaccurately portrays the action in question. Describing actions that were never taken or events that never occurred only puts your feedback recipient on the defensive as he or she attempts to describe what really took place.

Always be sure that you have an accurate understanding of the situation you are describing before you begin a feedback session. If you think that there might be some question about your version of the situation, try to identify more than one instance of it and document times, dates, and locations. You can also check your observations against those of others to see if you all arrive at similar interpretations.

Detailed Feedback Is Inquiring
Have an inquiring mind—learn all that you can about a complicated situation before you give feedback. Your investigation may help you arrive at a totally different interpretation of the situation—an interpretation that could result in totally different feedback. You may even discover that you wish to direct your feedback to a different person, or that actions that you thought needed to be changed were actually making a positive contribution.

Continue to ask questions during the feedback process itself. Encourage your feedback recipient to describe events that may be affecting the situation in question, and involve him or her in developing any plans for future action.

Don't Let Time Dull Your Details
Time has a way of dulling even the most vivid memories. In order to incorporate as many details into your feedback as possible, try to give redirection or reinforcement as close as possible to the time the act in question actually occurred. It is always easier to discuss something when events are fresh in everyone’s mind, and responding to a situation quickly shows that you believe that it is important.

One exception to this rule is the situation in which you need to both reinforce and redirect the person receiving the feedback. People receiving both types of feedback generally focus on the redirection, and the reinforcement that you wanted to provide often is ignored.

To alleviate this confusion, try splitting your feedback. One effective method of splitting feedback involves giving reinforcement as soon after the action in question as possible, then providing redirection closer to the time the person is going to repeat the action. For example, a manager who has just received a monthly report could reinforce her associate’s use of charts and bar graphs immediately after receiving the report and then redirect the associate to also include a spreadsheet with the report closer to next month’s due date.

A word of caution—balance the need for a timely response against the need to prepare for the feedback session. Remember that your feedback needs to be well organized and documented as well as on time. Beginning to plan your feedback as soon as you realize that a situation requires your response will help you to be both on time and well prepared.

Feedback—A Two-Way Process

Giving Feedback: The Process of Specifying
Keeping these guidelines in mind as you prepare your feedback will help you develop redirection and reinforcement that is detailed and useful. As you begin your first feedback sessions, you might think of giving detailed feedback as the process of specifying—that is, providing more and more specific information to the person receiving your feedback. The more specific the information you can provide, the closer your recipient can come to meeting individual, group, and organizational goals.

Of course, creating useful feedback isn’t only the responsibility of the person giving that feedback. Both those giving feedback and those receiving it have important roles to play in ensuring that feedback provides as much useful detail as possible.

Receiving Feedback: The Process of Probing
It’s a fact of life—you won’t always receive useful, detailed feedback on the job. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept poor quality feedback that does nothing to help you redirect or reinforce your own performance. Feedback recipients can request the details they need through the process of probing— asking the person giving feedback for more and more details. As you probe for information, you will receive more and more specific details about your behavior and performance.

In the following chapters, we will outline specific techniques that will help you to be an efficient giver and receiver of feedback. In each case, we will stress the importance of specifying—and probing for—the amount of specific information necessary to redirect or reinforce behaviors and performance.

Chapter Two Review

1. What are three characteristics of detailed feedback?

2. In order to provide your feedback recipient with as much specific detail as possible, when should you provide reinforcement or redirection?

3. Providing more and more specific information to the recipient of your feedback is the process of

4. Asking the person giving you feedback for more and more details is the process of

Get the answers.

Coming next month, Chapter Three: Planning Effective Feedback.

Pamela Lizardi was appointed as the Training & Staff Development Administrator for the Trial Courts of Maricopa County in July 2003 after serving as the Training Coordinator for Maricopa County Limited Jurisdiction Courts since March 2002. Pam has spent over 22 years in the United States Army in various positions both in the active service and the National Guard. Pam has written numerous training programs, most significantly is Improving One-on-One Training. Pam has a successful 19 year training background. Recently she completed her Masters in Education with Ottawa University, graduating Suma Cum Laude with a 4.0 GPA. She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. Pam is also adjunct faculty with Mesa Community College in the Judicial Studies program. She holds certificates from Arizona Dept. of Education in teaching Career & Technical Education, Business & Marketing, Adult Education, and Secondary Education in History & Business. Pam continues her to learn with two organizations, National Association of State Judicial Educators and the American Society of Training and Development, along with additional college classes.

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