Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Paula Gomes

Feedback is an incredible tool for any type of work. But it can sometimes backfire. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you build trust with your team, get them to open up and be more productive.

So, first and foremost, and because it matches the title:

1) don’t just go out there giving feedback.

Feedback should not be treated as something you throw at someone as you’re passing by their desk. In fact, here’s a nice rule of thumb: as you’re passing someone’s desk (especially an artist’s) try not to pry. Respect their privacy. Many people don’t like having passers-by hovering over their shoulders, and most people don’t have the advantage of having a wall at their backs that doesn’t allow for circulation.

Think instead of feedback as a work tool, just like meetings, briefings, style guides. It is not your personal opinion, like the one you have on your co-worker’s love life.

Like all other work tools, feedback serves a purpose. It fits a business goal. And it has its proper timing. Feedback needs to be wanted, and that is meant not only relating to a person’s openness but as to whether the work is finished and ready to receive it or not.

So next time you feel the urge to comment on an illustration you see on your way to the water cooler, instead of springing it on the artist, ask them if they’re open to receiving some feedback at this point. Even if they weren’t, this show of empathy will warm their hearts.

2) Don’t give feedback without understanding the work’s goal

Say the artist above, whom you asked if they wanted your feedback, accepted. Great! First barrier broken. But are you involved enough in the project to know how to say something relevant?

A good feedback is always focused on goals. Say someone shows you a sketch of a house drawn in a cartoony style and asks you what you think of it. What do you say to that? It’s hard, isn’t it, without knowing what it’s for.

When giving feedback, you should always be aligned with the purpose that piece of work is being made for. If the cartoony house was meant to be used in an architecture digest, it might not fit. But if it’s for a casual game, it could be great. Given that’s the style of the game, of course.

There’s no feedback without context. And for that to happen largely on your team, there need to be style guides properly set up, so people know where to go, what rules to follow and so they, themselves, can start self-evaluating if their work is up to standard.

3) Give feedback to improve performance, but highlight what they’re already doing right

Feedback can be defined as an information about a past behavior that can cause improvement in the future. But good feedback is crucial not only for performance improvement, but also for positive reinforcement.

When giving feedback, we are often taking for granted a lot of things that the person is doing right. By overlooking that, we are ignoring a key part of the feedback process. It is important to highlight what was done right so the person keeps up the good work.

Plus, it helps to take out the overall negativity of feedbacks. People crave approval, never forget that. And more than throwing in some compliments, really mean what you are saying, both when complimenting and critiquing. Try to transform the act of a “negative feedback” into an “improvement focused feedback”. Change the tone and you will find a much more open audience.

4) Set the tone

How you say it is just as important as what you say. Tone matters, a lot, and it can make your break your team’s morale. That’s why feedback should always be done in person. Email, chat, text, slack, no matter how many emojis you use, can be lacking in proper intonation.

You should always try to energize your team. If you’re giving feedback that there’s a lot of work to be done, don’t tell them with your feet dragging and a sorrowful face. Instead tell your team that, despite all the work, you believe in them and that they can get it done! End conversations on a high note, as it will set the mood for how people leave your feedback session and go back to work.

5) Know your timing

If you see something that needs improvement, don’t wait until the next quarterly evaluation to tell someone. They might have forgotten it, the work might have probably been shipped, and it won’t have the same impact.

Just don’t forget rule #1.

6) Learn to deal with defensive people

Artists and designers, due to the introspective nature of their work, tend to take feedback personally. The best way to deflect that is to always remember that feedback should be goal focused. Reminding the person that their work needs to follow a business goal helps create a healthy detachment from the work.

And even if the person already has that perspective, sometimes they’ve been working on something for so long that it’s hard to hear it needs to change. Again.

So have empathy. Show them you understand all the process (and improvement) they’ve already gone through.

Be specific with your feedback, and the feedback you will get back will improve. For instance, don’t tell someone “this is bad”. Enlighten them on why you think this is bad. And then drop the “bad” word from your feedback and focus only on the motives you believe something needs to be improved. It helps the person understand what they can do to improve.

7) Teach them to fish

Resist the temptation of listing how things can be improved instead of just listing what you think needs improvement. Don’t hand out a task list. As a leader, that can be very tempting, and it certainly makes your immediate job easier.

But in the long run, you need to teach your team to stand on their own two feet, and they are never going to do that if you don’t teach them how to think on their own.

Instead of saying what you think could be done, involve them in the thought process. Bring them along for the journey and make them get there themselves. Not only will you have an autonomous team, but it will help build trust and confidence.

And if you have any feedback on this article, I would be glad to read it!

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7 important lessons for giving better feedback was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

7 important lessons for giving better feedback

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