Specific Feedback
Vague performance feedback will result in vague performance improvement. Ambiguous performance feedback will result in ambiguous performance feedback. You must be specific to be strategic.
Be specific in your encouraging feedback. As a coach, I sometimes hear others say, "Great work today!" "Well done." "Keep up the good work!" These all indicate good performance and are meant to encourage continued behavior, but they always beg the question, "What was good?" "What continued behavior is desired?" You must get specific to get strategic in developing performance. If you don't know why something is working when it is working, then you won't know how to fix it when it is broken. What exactly is being done well? What good work should be continued?
Also, be specific in your coaching feedback. I had one young lad I coached in soccer who would love to come into the locker room at halftime if we were losing and tell his teammates what would happen if we wanted a win. He would say, "Guys. We just have to play better." While he may have been correct, this feedback needed more specifics to help the team make actionable adjustments. Vague feedback breeds vague results. Vague feedback breeds vague adjustments. How specifically can you play better?
Finally, be specific in your corrective feedback. Identify what is undesired and why. Then, enter into a productive conversation with your team member to identify preferred actions, outcomes, or behaviors and clearly outline why that is preferred.
The impact of feedback to drive performance is only as good as the actionable data that is given or collected. Here's what I want you to do: when you give performance feedback, be specific so that you can be strategic.
Also available on:
Follow us on our official website and social media pages:
Website: https://www.thepathwayzgroup.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-vanderburg-86817833/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmberVanderburg/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepathwayzgroup/
