Here Are Examples of How to Give Effective Feedback

December 7, 2016

This time of year brings performance reviews, which are a pain. Here are feedback examples that will help you and your employee.

Even though the annual performance review is still alive, it’s on its way out. Adobe, Expedia, Microsoft, and Kelly Services are just some of the firms that have dropped the annual review. That process, developed in the 1940s by big business, has long been a plague to managers and employees alike.

It’s time to find examples of feedback that are more palatable to all and that are more effective. That’s the purpose of this article.

Before going into what to do, let’s start with what not to do. Have you been using the sandwich method to give feedback? If so, it’s time to move on.

Forget the Sandwich Method

The sandwich method has you start with praise, then layer in the negative feedback, then end with praise. The idea is that praise at the beginning and end eases the pain of the negative feedback, for the manager who has to give it and the employee who receives it.

The problem with the sandwich approach is this. In any conversation or encounter, we remember first what we heard last (praise). Then we remember second what we heard first (praise). Everything else (negative feedback) is quickly forgotten.

The next time you hear a speaker, pay close attention to where the speaker puts the greatest emphasis—on the beginning and the ending. The words in the middle almost disappear.

Other Approaches

Marshall Goldsmith, a well-known speaker and writer, has a system called Feedforward. As the name implies, it focuses on the future, not the past. You can learn more about his approach here.

Paul English, CEO of Kayak, uses a 5-word method to give feedback. Read this interesting interview with him to see if this approach would work for you.

An interesting study of feedback in the Journal of Consumer Research concludes that as an employee get more experience, he is more interested in negative feedback. “Positive feedback increased novices’ commitment and negative feedback increased experts’ sense that they were making insufficient progress,” the authors write.

This Inc. article quotes a study where researchers found that 19 words made feedback 40% more effective by beginning the session saying this: I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.