Your email ID at Talented ends with a (dot) team. It’s our way of reminding ourselves that we’re all part of something bigger than each of us as individuals. And that our work suffers if we don’t make the most of each other. The first step to walking this talk is in how we communicate. Some easy advice on receiving/giving feedback to colleagues, clients, specialists & candidates:

What’s good feedback?

Good feedback comes from a place of believing in your colleague's potential and wanting to help them be their best self.

Here are some tips to help you share quality feedback:

• People respect candidness and directness: If you feel a problem is being obfuscated by disclaimers, delicateness, lack of intellectual honesty, or too many niceties that are diluting the main message, simplify it and just say it like it is. Be honest and highlight the reason for clarity.
• Ensure that everyone understands the problem first: When a solution meets resistance, it is often because not everyone is on the same page about the problem.
• How you say it matters: Email is a great way to inform people of something, and we actively encourage a writing culture. However, if the topic is particularly sensitive or controversial, push for a more intimate medium such as an in-person chat or a video conference with your video on. Some topics require preparation, so give participants time to gather facts and mentally prepare themselves for the exchange. Without this, they are likely to feel overwhelmed.
• Provide feedback when it matters: Share your feedback at the point where it would be most helpful to the recipient instead of waiting for an official review. This should be a part of our everyday communication.
• Favor positive feedback: High-performing teams share nearly six times more positive feedback than average teams. Positive feedback stimulates the reward centers in the brain, leaving the recipient open to taking new directions.
• Be specific about your praise: Without being explicit about what your colleague did right, you leave them free to interpret what they think they're being praised for, which can lead to confusion.

What is bad feedback?

While good feedback is not afraid to be negative, bad feedback often focuses on the person rather than the action.

As author Leo Babauta explains, "Never criticise the person. Always criticise the actions. And when you’re making suggestions, make suggestions about actions, not about the person."

Bad feedback is also vague and hides behind confusing statements. If the recipient of the feedback doesn’t have enough information about what the problem is or the actionable steps they can take to improve their work, there’s no real point in sharing such feedback.

We also believe that telling someone exactly how to fix a problem is often not the best approach. Deep learning is fostered when we ask questions that stimulate reflection and coach people into exploration and experimentation.

In short, have a conversation, be clear and direct, be open to different perspectives, embrace conflict - this is more likely to help us get closer to the best version of what we’re building together.

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