Here are 5 Great Icebreakers for Giving Feedback

Apr 15

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Feedback. Everyone needs it. Few know how to deliver it well. Let’s break it down really quick.

What is feedback?

Apple’s Dictionary defines it as:

“Information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.”

The key phrase there is “as a basis for improvement”. The purpose of feedback is to help individuals improve. It helps individuals understand whether their actions render positive or negative effects and how to adjust their actions to create better results. Therefore, feedback has to be intentional.

Who benefits from feedback?

Everyone: You, as a lead. The report. The team. The entire company.

Constructive feedback has a snowball effect, which looks something like this:

You notice a report missed a deadline, so you provide effective feedback that is clear and actionable.
The report implements a new process based on your feedback, which enables him/her to yield quicker results. The report feels accomplished for developing their skills.
The team is happy because this issue won’t continue to be a problem. Every teammate meets their goals.
You are commended for managing a high-performing team.

High performing individuals lead to high performing teams, which ends with amazing results. In addition, you’ll save time on correcting future issues stemming from the same problem. Possibly even time looking for a replacement.

How to give constructive feedback.

“Constructive” is the key word here. Feedback that doesn’t make sense or sounds more insulting than helpful is of no use. Therefore, how you provide feedback is important.

The sooner, the better. Why:

The likelihood of an individual remembering his/her actions or the reasoning behind the actions decreases as time goes on. Feedback is only effective if they know how to adjust their original behavior.
You won’t have a pileup of what an individual is doing “wrong” to deliver all at once. It’s not fun listening to someone list off how imperfect you are, nor is it pleasant delivering the list.
An obvious reason: the earlier you can course correct, the sooner the issue gets resolved.

Balance positives and negatives.

Tying it back to one of the points above, it doesn’t make a person feel good when he/she is only receiving negative feedback. That doesn’t mean you should tiptoe around the feedback either. Be direct. Provide a good balance of strengths and weaknesses. It doesn’t hurt to have one or two more positives though! Try using one of these common practices:

3x3 Method: List 3 strengths, then list 3 areas of improvement.
Sandwich: Share one strength, then an improvement, and end with another strength.

Give feedback, receive feedback.

This brings us back to the first point about the purpose of feedback. Feedback is meant to help individuals improve, which includes leads. It’s important to give your reports the opportunity to voice their thoughts about how changes to your actions can help them and the team be successful. Furthermore, doing so builds trust, encourages open communication, and shows the report you both are part of a team. A team that will work together to help each other be successful.

Here are a couple more ways to provide feedback:

Team Findings:

Step 1. In a group, give every team member a stack of index cards. Everyone has two minutes to write down feedback (both strengths and areas of improvement) for each team member.

Step 2. Distribute the index cards to whoever it’s addressed to. Everyone spends 5 minutes looking over the feedback they received. Look for potential patterns, what needs clarification, and how it makes you feel.

Step 3. Each person shares their findings using this framework:

1. A trend I noticed in the feedback I received is…

2. This feedback is similar (dissimilar) to other feedback I have received in the past…

3. One piece of feedback I’d like to inquire more about is…

Start, Stop, Continue:

Step 1: In a group, give every team member a stack of index cards. Have everyone complete the following two sentences for each team member.

“To _teammate’s name_: Something I would like you to START doing is... Something I would like you to STOP doing is... Something I would like you to CONTINUE doing is... Signed __your name___.”

Step 2: Distribute the index cards to whoever it’s addressed to. Each person reads their card aloud and shares their thoughts.

Current Strongest Impression: