Feedback Skills

Leadership and management training open courses in Manchester, Birmingham, Gloucester, Milton Keynes, Swindon, Oxford, London, Nottingham, West Midlands, Edinburgh – Scotland

Feedback is a communication skill.

• Positive feedback (praise) is easy to give, and most people like receiving praise.
• Negative feedback (constructive criticism) is not easy to give and is often, not well received.

But you have to give constructive criticism: negative feedback.

Negative feedback requires much thought and careful planning - you must get it right

This is because nobody actually likes hearing criticism of their work performance.
BUT, avoiding negative feedback for fear of upsetting people, will lead to continued poor performance.
Giving feedback is a definite communication skill.
This course is designed to help you to give accurate, well timed and objective feedback.

Course content

Starting point: How can you communicate in such a way as to get the best performance from others?

All feedback is measured as “The amount of deviation from the goal”

Feedback comes in three forms

1. The amount of positive progress made towards the goal
2. The lack of positive progress made towards the goal
3. Going backwards AWAY from the goal

To be meaningful all key words must be defined.
Be careful of using vague language

How to define your language
Distinguish “feedback” from “insults”
How some people accidently make their intended feedback, sound like insults.
Avoid making “subtle hints” in the hope they “get the message”
Don’t make hints - make statements

PM

A step by step method to deliver “constructive criticism”

1. Your purpose is to change behaviour: NOT to tell them how they make you feel
2. Tell them what they are doing wrong
3. Give them the corrective action
4. Ask if they will change
5. If not, why not?
6. Investigate the reasons they give for not changing
7. Agree a plan of action

Positive feedback

1. Tell people when they are doing it right.
2. Make praise specific (Not woolly- or vague)
3. Be honest (don’t invent praise)
4.  Ask for more of the same good behaviour.

The training method follows this general pattern:

1. The trainer gives a clear explanation of the point in question.
2. The trainer then demonstrates the principle and gives specific examples.
3. Then, the delegates practice by doing an exercise with each other.
4. The delegates practice by doing exercise with the trainer.
5. All points are supported with full written notes to take away.
6. Delegates are asked to write down an associated action, for each point made.
7. (At the end of the day, we have about twenty such actions, from which the delegates choose six which are the most personally meaningful).

Note: we do not believe in placing people in any situation of embarrassment by demanding that they 'perform' in front of the whole group. So you can relax: come on this course and be at ease; ready to learn new skills!

For all your training enquiries please call: 01452 856091

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