How to Give Work Performance Feedback 

A New Year is a great time for reflection on yourself and your business. Part of that reflection is noticing what is and isn’t going well. If someone on your team is falling short it’s best to address it in a professional manner. If you are unsure on how to have this conversation, we have some tips for you.

Here are 8 tips to effectively communicate with employees about their work performance. 

1. Be honest. The goal is to maintain a positive relationship built on integrity. An important part of that relationship is to be honest. Workers appreciate honesty and will be more likely to stay loyal to your company if they can trust you.
2. Be clear and concise. There’s no need to sugarcoat negative feedback. It’s also important to be concise in communication. If you beat around the bush too much, the employee may not get the message you are trying to convey. For example, avoid saying things too general such as, “your work needs to improve”. Instead, state what their work needs to improve, like meeting deadlines appropriately. 
3. Show empathy. Delivering your feedback in an empathetic way will help especially if the feedback is negative. This will also reduce the amount your employees will get defensive. The aim is to help them grow, not attack them. 
4. Give feedback regularly instead of waiting for a quarterly review. This avoids your employees from repeatedly making the same mistakes and keeps the situation fresh in their mind. It also gives them more time to change and prove to you that they are coachable. 
5. Make it private. Giving feedback in private shows respect to your employees. It would be inappropriate and unprofessional for your other employees to overhear this conversation.
6. Ignore the sandwich approach. The sandwich approach says to start and end on a positive note. However, this is not necessary in a professional setting as it can take away from the main message you are looking to deliver. Learning how to deliver negative feedback in a tactful way is your best approach. 
7. Direct your feedback to performance, not personality. Being specific about what behavior (or lack therefore) is the best strategy for delivering feedback. Avoid saying things about their personality such as, “stop being lazy”. Instead tell them what needs to be changed like, “it’s important for you to come to work on time”. 
8. State how they can improve. Don’t focus solely on the problem but offer solutions on how they can improve their behavior. The goal is to help them change their behavior. It’s best to reach this goal by outlining how they can improve and avoid making the same mistake again. 

Giving feedback to your employees, whether positive or negative, is a great way to build your relationship with them. It shows an example of how to handle conflict and is a reflection of you as a leader. When you learn to embrace giving feedback and having these tough conversations, amazing things can happen. It gives you and the employee an opportunity to communicate and grow together. Problems are an inevitable part of being human. When we use them as opportunities for growth, instead of something we want to avoid, that’s where true success lies.