Giving feedback to colleagues on their performance, consider below things
- Be honest with your colleagues. If you are providing feedback to your colleagues, you will be doing them a disservice if you are not honest and straightforward. You may garner the best results by talking with each colleague individually so there is an element of confidentially.
- Use examples to explain your laud or your critique. Your colleagues will be more accepting of your feedback if you use examples from their performance to explain why you praised a particular part or why you may have critiqued something else.
- Deliver negative feedback in a positive way. If the feedback you need to deliver to your colleagues will be sensitive in nature because their performance was less than perfect; you should think about what you want to say first, so you can turn the negative into a positive. For example, maybe their job performance was bad because they forgot to include a particular protocol being implemented by your organization. You could say, “In the future, you should include the correct protocol during your presentation” versus saying something like, “You failed to include the correct protocol”. Delivering the feedback in a positive way will lead your colleagues to discover what they did wrong.
- Choose your words carefully. Certain words and phrases can be read a lot more callous than you intended, so be sure to reread your feedback and put yourself on the receiving end of the comments before providing your colleagues with the feedback.
- Effective constructive feedback begins with highlighting the employee’s strengths and the ways she contributes to the organization’s success. Begin your co-worker’s assessment by explaining what she brings to the department and the company. For example, she might be a loyal employee whose dependable nature is assurance that the team can always count on her to be present, reliable and willing to help. Balance is critical and beginning with strengths establishes a balanced framework that ensures the constructive feedback will be well-received.
- Don’t write a book. The manager can only deal with a certain amount of information whether it is praise or criticism. Make your key points as succinctly as you can. If you have criticisms, pick one to three to share. You don’t need to go on and on with details that don’t elucidate your key points. State the facts, as you see them.
- Use the experience as a chance to think about your own contributions and behaviors. As you think about your coworker’s performance and interaction, use it as an opportunity to examine similar actions and habits that you may have that people love or hate. You’re sure to find some commonalities with your coworker. It’s a great opportunity to look at yourself and think about what you could do to improve.