Giving feedback with more impact

Giving feedback, what a great tool that is! At least, that's what you would think. Many tips are given such as "keep the feedback close to you because it's your feedback," "be specific and goal-oriented"...

But there's a big catch... did you know that feedback often has a counterproductive effect? That sounds quite strange, doesn't it?

"giving feedback often backfires..."

To understand this better, we need to zoom out a bit to the human as a whole. It has everything to do with the anatomical composition of our body, particularly the specific composition of our brain. 

Our brain

First, a bit of basics. Our brain is composed of three identifiable parts: (i) the ganglia, also known as our primitive brain or reptilian brain. It is the part of the brain that we have carried with us the longest (through evolution) and controls our primary actions. The freeze, fight, or flight responses originate here. If you are in danger, your primitive brain directs you to a safe place, makes you flee, freeze, or fight. It also takes care of basic needs like eating, drinking, etc. (ii) the limbic brain, which is also described as the mammalian brain. It provides your emotional context, your social interactions, and care for others. It is the middle part of your brain and enables you to form relationships, both with others and in your response to stimuli. Lastly, (iii) the neocortex, also known as the human brain, comes into play. It is evolutionarily the youngest part of our brain and gives us cognitive skills, bringing us creativity, humor, and spirituality. 

You might wonder why this is important to know, and that's a logical question. I'll guide you in the right direction.

Giving feedback almost always involves a desire from the feedback giver to change something. It is the sharing of an observation to lead to different behavior in the future; a different outcome. It turns out that giving feedback often triggers your primitive brain. The effect you achieve with your feedback is merely counterproductive because it (very basically) leads to a freeze, fight, or flight reaction!

Okay, here's an example

Imagine you are a manager of a team of salespeople. You've noticed that sales figures have been lagging recently. You want to help your team improve the numbers, so you decide to give feedback.

You gather your team and say: 

"I've noticed that sales figures have been lagging recently. I'm concerned that we won't meet our targets. I'd like to help you improve this. Therefore, I'm giving you the following feedback:

• You need to call potential customers more often.
• You need to listen better to the needs of customers.
• You need to be more persuasive when closing deals."

When you give feedback in a way that focuses on criticizing mistakes, you activate the primitive brain. The primitive brain is the part of our brain responsible for our survival instincts. It is focused on safety and security. When we feel criticized, the primitive brain goes into defensive mode. We feel threatened, and our natural reaction is to attack or run away.

In the situation I described above, there's a good chance the team feels attacked by the feedback. They might wonder what they're doing wrong and why you're so upset with them. They might also think they're not good enough.

These reactions are not conducive to implementing positive change. The team is more likely to shut down to the feedback and be less inclined to act on it.

So what should you do instead?
A better way to give feedback is to focus on the positive points and provide suggestions that can help the team improve.

In the situation I described above, you might say: 

"I've noticed that you're very good at building relationships with customers. You're also very good at finding the right solutions for customers' needs. I think we can improve sales figures by calling potential customers more often and using more persuasion when closing deals. I believe you can achieve this by following these tips:

• Schedule regular phone calls with potential customers.
• Ask open-ended questions to uncover customers' needs.
• Clearly explain how your products or services can meet customers' needs.

I know you can do this."

This feedback focuses on the team's positive points and provides concrete suggestions that can help the team improve. The team is more likely to feel motivated to follow the feedback.

Conclusion:

Feedback that focuses on criticizing mistakes activates the primitive brain. This can lead to a defensive reaction from the team, making them less likely to follow the feedback. A better way to give feedback is to focus on the positive points and provide suggestions that can help the team improve.

Do you have more leadership situations you'd like to discuss with me? Feel free to contact me.

Best regards,