Check what feedback is and how important it is to the company's culture!

Have you ever felt discouraged at work or aimless because you don't know if you're on the right way? Nobody tells you what you're doing that should be kept, or what needs to be corrected... It is caused by the absence of feedback. But what is feedback?

Before answering this question, it is important to understand that feedback is a two-way street, that is, both those who are led need to receive it, as well as those in leadership positions.

When it is not given, productivity drops, the work effort is misdirected and the maximum potential of each member is wasted. And that's not what we expect as a leader's results, is it?

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Now, let's get to the point! In this article, you will learn:

• What is feedback?
• Feedback: Formal and Informal;
• Feedback: Positive and Negative;
• The importance of feedback;
• Learn more about feedback!

What is feedback?

Feedback can be thought of as the evaluation given regarding the results obtained in a certain activity. It is worth noting that its concept is that it is a communication, and not a lecture, therefore one should not start the dialogue with a certainty of the conclusion.

In other words, the meaning of "feedback" is constructive criticism of a professional's performance. Constructive because its objective is not simply to judge an employee's activity, but rather to contribute to the identification of strengths or to improve this professional to assist in their personal and professional growth.

Consequently, the feedback is used in the administration of companies for better development of its employees, praising what must be maintained and pointing out what must be corrected (if possible, already with a suggestion of how to improve those points).

But it's not enough to know what feedback is, you need to know the types and when to use them. So let's go!

Feedback: Formal and Informal

The term feedback can be given basically in two ways: formal and informal. And in this case, there is no right and wrong, no better and worse way. Both are useful ways to give feedback, and they can even be used together.

Formal feedback is the traditional one in which the manager calls his team member to a meeting, where the points that must be reinforced and those that must be corrected are presented.

Generally, this type of performance appraisal is employed at longer time intervals, ranging from weekly to semi-annual intervals. For that reason, it is a complete assessment of the fulfillment of the proposed goals and objectives.

The informal is applied on a daily basis, continuously. A good example, in this case, is the one on one methodology.

A good leader will use this type of feedback frequently, keeping the employee motivated and focused on becoming more productive, developing his personal skills. After all, your work is getting noticed.

To give good feedback, it is necessary to have self-knowledge, leader thinking, and emotional intelligence. Be sure to read these articles on the subject!

Feedback: Positive and Negative

As has been said before, feedback serves both to highlight the positive points and to correct the negative points and, thus, improve them. Okay, but how important is that?

Well, the need to reinforce the positives is to ensure that this behavior will be repeated. If this feedback is not given, likely, this type of attitude will not happen again.

To be successful, the leader must explain his perception of the situation and the importance of this action to the entire team.

This will make the employee feel like a really useful part of the team. The culture of feedback is part of the company's culture, which allows greater openness to give and receive feedback between employees and leaders.

In cases of positive feedback, give preference to praising in public, so that the professional feels even more recognized and becomes a kind of reference in this highlighted and praised characteristic for other co-workers.

Negative feedback, on the other hand, aims to demonstrate and clarify to the employee that there is harmful behavior, or that it is not yet as expected, and help him to improve at this point. It must be done carefully so as not to sound offensive and thus alienate the employee, discouraging him.

It is good that this type of feedback always comes after the positive because that way the person receiving this evaluation is less defensive and more willing to listen to what the manager has to say.

It's the "sandwich technique": it starts by praising something that the person is good at and does well, intersperses punctuating a characteristic or attitude to improve, and ends with another compliment.

When citing the point to be improved, it is important to bring data and situations (so that it does not become something abstract) and also suggest changes (if you can help with this improvement, even better).

The improvement suggestion is important to make it clear to the person receiving feedback that your goal is to help them, not judge them.

Example of good feedback

Hi, John. I came here to congratulate you on today's presentation, it was a great proposal. However, I noticed that when speaking your arguments, you used a more serious tone than usual. I believe that if the tone should be better adapted, with a firm posture, but a tone with less imposing content and looking at all employees equally, it would be more open to putting the project into action.

I found a very cool oratory course on the Internet, I'm doing it... I can send you the link. Ahhh, and there's even an article on nonviolent communication. Have you ever heard of it? I believe that your presentations would be even better with it!

The importance of feedback

Now that we've seen what it is and some variations of it, it's good to understand its importance, what it's for and what purpose it should be implemented in the company.

Feedback must be adopted by the company so that there is close monitoring of employees. For example, with the identification of points to improve as quickly as possible, future losses to the company are avoided and the employee develops in the area that most needs it.

And, with the verification of positive points, the employee is motivated and the company can use these strengths of the employee to achieve better results.

That said, as already mentioned, the absence of this evaluation compromises the company's progress, generating negative situations.

Among some impacts to be considered, we can mention the drop in productivity, self-esteem and motivation. and why does this happen? Simple. If an employee doesn't get any kind of feedback to improve performance, they'll conclude that the work they've been doing isn't even noticed.

Following the same line of thought, this employee's loyalty to the leader and the organization will be compromised, increasing the risk of losing the employee.

In addition, the lack of feedback can generate inappropriate behavior, as there is a feeling that no one will correct this type of attitude. Thus, this will have a very negative impact on the work environment.

Learn more about feedback!

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