How can I give feedback without breaking relationships?



Feedback on performance such as work may point out not only good points but bad points of the other person, but sometimes the side receiving the feedback repels and the human relationship with the side giving the feedback is broken. .. As a result of questionnaires and experiments on feedback exchanges, it was found that it is important to “focus on the future, not the past” in order to give feedback without destroying human relationships.

The future of feedback: Motivating performance improvement through future-focused feedback

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234444

Future focus has the power to transform the practice of feedback
https://www.psypost.org/2020/07/future-focus-has-the-power-to-transform-the-practice-of-feedback-57383

The purpose of feedback is to encourage behavioral changes and is considered important in employee management, coaching, parenting, education and problem solving. However, it is empirically known that the thoughtful feedback often backfires, and not only can feedback not improve the behavior of people, but it can also disrupt human relationships.

A team of American and New Zealand researchers researched the impact and effectiveness of feedback based on interviews and experiments to find out why feedback failed and how it worked.



First, the research team surveyed 419 middle and senior management in the Executive MBA courses in Chicago, Barcelona, and Singapore about the feedback they provided or received in their recent work. All respondents had practical experience in the field, and 18% of the respondents were female.

The research team randomly asked what to ask each respondent, “when positive feedback was given”, when “negative feedback was given”, “when positive feedback was given”, and when “negative feedback was given”. I assigned it to one of the “when I got it”. Respondents evaluated 'How accurate was the feedback sent and received,' and also answered 'Percentage of luck and ability occupied' regarding the results of the case where feedback was exchanged.

Analysis of the responses revealed that those who sent feedback and those who received positive feedback tended to respond that 'the content of the feedback was accurate and the result of the project was due to ability'. Did. On the other hand, it seems that people who received negative feedback tended to reply that the content of the feedback was inaccurate and that the case was unsuccessful.



Subsequently, the research team said that 380 businessmen and MBA students living in Australia were allowed to perform role-play divided into 'boss giving feedback and subordinate receiving feedback'. Each participant was given an HR file with fictitious work backgrounds, job grades, and behavioral behaviors, and both parties read the content before discussing feedback.

Initially, it was expected that “discussing the content of performance and feedback would increase the possibility that subordinates would accept feedback,” but in fact, even if discussions were made, mutual agreement on feedback would be reached. Did not form. On the contrary, the discrepancies between the two became larger due to the discussion, and the subordinates were more than before receiving feedback, 'Success is due to internal factors such as personal ability and effort, failure is external due to lack of resources or bad luck. It is due to the factor.'

Importantly, the research team points out that the best predictors that subordinates accept feedback as 'useful and reasonable' are how much they say 'feedback is focused on the future.' It was whether or not they were thinking. When the parties agreed that the feedback discussion was about future success, the subordinates were more motivated to accept the feedback and improve their future behaviour.

In subsequent experiments, the research team created guidelines to communicate that 'feedback is focused on the future,' and conducted similar role-play experiments on another 162 subjects. Subjects read the guidelines before the discussion, but unfortunately their subordinates did not receive a high percentage of feedback. However, also in this experiment, the result that the subordinate's 'the strength of the idea that 'feedback is focused on the future' is related to the acceptance of feedback and the willingness to improve behavior' is reproduced. The research team said.



Traditional advice on how to give feedback is mainly 'not only denying but also pointing out positive points to reduce the pain of feedback' 'making specific points and giving useful information' did. However, the results argue that the traditional advice is not optimal and that 'focusing on the future rather than analyzing past events' is more effective. Here are some tips to keep in mind when giving or receiving feedback:

・Share the goal of “I want to improve things for the future”.
・Specify the ideal you want to aim for.
・Praise what went well in the past and only point out that the performance was dissatisfied. Avoid causes and detailed explanations of past events.
・I think that the side receiving the feedback has motivation and ability to improve.
· Look to the future and discuss potential opportunities and valuable actions.
・Work together to find a solution.



in Note, Posted by log1h_ik