Effective feedback doesn’t just happen. Whether you are giving redirection or reinforcement, you should plan what you are going to say in advance. You will need to identify examples to support the redirection or reinforcement you want to give; and you will need to organize your thoughts so that you are able to present your feedback coherently.

Clarify why you are providing feedback. Do any of these possible reasons exist:

• To continually improve a team’s performance
• To correct an individual’s poor performance
• To motivate
• To learn from past failures and mistakes

Ensure you have accurate information about what the person did so you can discover why. As you take part in more and more feedback sessions, you may find that you actually spend more time planning your feedback than you do giving it. This is not uncommon – the more time you put into your planning, the more smoothly your feedback sessions will run. Knowing that you want to give someone reinforcement or redirection is just the beginning of the feedback planning process.

Try asking yourself this series of questions to get your feedback planning on track.

• Can I identify and accurately describe the behavior or performance I want to redirect or reinforce and its effects on others in the organization?
• Do I have detailed examples of the act and its effects that I can use to support my descriptions?
• Do I have positive intent?
• Can I identify and describe the results that I hope my reinforcement or redirection will produce?
• Does the person receiving the feedback understand my expectations for his or her performance?
• Is the person receiving the feedback really responsible for the act in question?
• Is the other person open to receiving feedback from me?
• Have I put off giving this feedback for a long time?
• Have I given myself enough time to prepare the feedback?

A large part of providing feedback is the way in which the feedback is given. You should take care to prepare yourself for the feedback session. Keep some of these points in mind.

• Notify the employee or peer and schedule a meeting date and time.
• Choose a private but visible setting, including a glass cubicle or glass window conference room, where you and the other person are physically comfortable.
• Prepare the facts and documents from which you will work.
• Collect the back-up material supporting the feedback and what you wish to accomplish.
• Plan how to say what needs to be said.
• Ensure there is positive intent.

During the session try to:

• Explain the purpose and positive intent.
• Place the feedback recipient at ease, as much as possible.
• Encourage the feedback recipient to be open and expressive.
• Do not become emotionally involved.
• Listen!
• Encourage clarification of discussion with open-ended questions.
• Use specifics, not generalities.
• Get feedback recipient to talk about him or her, not others.
• Use receptive body language; don’t close off your body or your mind.
• Do not cross-examine; discuss the topics at hand.
• Don’t argue.
• Put yourself in the feedback recipient’s shoes and treat them as you would like to be treated.

When wrapping up the session, be sure to:

• Explore future actions and your confidence in him or her.
• Get the feedback recipient’s commitment to make the action plan happen.
• Remind the recipient of the positive intent.
• Agree on a tentative scheduling for a follow-up session.
• Thank your feedback recipient.

Excerpted from "Giving and Receiving Feedback Leader Guide," The BridgeSpan Group, 2003.