What it is about
Feedback is an important tool for developing and improving the performance of employees, but if implemented incorrectly, it can also demotivate or cause conflict. Here are some basic mistakes managers can make when giving feedback:
📌 Vagueness: giving vague or general feedback leads to confusion and doesn’t help employees rank their performance or improve.
📌 Emotionality: Feedback must always be objective and constructive. Feedback that is too emotional or aggressive puts the employee on the defensive.
📌 Negative feedback: If the feedback is mainly critical and does not emphasize any positive aspects, it undermines the employee’s motivation and self-esteem.
📌 Public negative feedback: Critical feedback may only be given in private and not in front of other employees.
📌 Lack of suggestions for solutions: It is not helpful to merely identify problems and not point out or jointly develop ways to improve them.
📌 Lack of regularity: If given only sporadically, it is neither possible to follow up on discussed developments nor to build up a learning curve on the part of the employees.
📌 Lack of context: If employees do not understand why they are receiving certain feedback, it is difficult for them to accept or respond to the feedback.
📌 Not listening: Feedback is a dialogue. If managers are unwilling to listen to the employee’s perspective, their gift is meaningless.
📌 Unprepared feedback: Feedback must always be well thought out and structured. Spontaneity or lack of preparation in terms of fact gathering is not only inaccurate, but often unfair.
📌 Bias: Feedback must only be given on the basis of observable facts and behavior; personal assumptions are counterproductive.
➡️ Conclusion: Each of these mistakes reduces the efficiency of feedback and has the exact opposite effect of what is intended to be achieved. Therefore, it is important for managers to check themselves for these mistakes and avoid them.
R2049 