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The Feedback Fix
Feedback: everyone needs it, yet few are skilled at it. Unclear, poorly timed feedback is a recipe for confusion, frustration, and project delays and failure. Let’s face it – comments like “This isn’t quite there yet” or “Can you make it pop?” aren’t exactly helpful. Vague and ambiguous feedback often leaves teams confused and demoralized without clear direction.
According to Gallup, 80% of employees who say they have received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged. Keyword: Meaningful.
So, how can we as team leaders elevate our feedback and help our teams and organizations operate at their best? Here’s the bottom line: effective feedback is a skill to be developed, not a passive afterthought. Too often poor, half-measured feedback is lazy feedback. Bad for the giver and receiver.
It often sounds like this:
“Let’s make this stronger.”
“I’m not feeling it.”
“Can you refine this a bit more?”
While these phrases might sound genuine, without specifics, they leave teams feeling empty and directionless. Is it the quality of the work? The tone? The words, design, color, functionality or overall direction? Without clarity, it’s nothing more than guesswork too often requiring excessive revisions, rework and unnecessary delays, not to mention the more permanent damage of lost trust, respect, and morale… far more difficult outcomes to repair.
According to “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott, feedback boils down to one thing… caring personally while challenging directly. Great feedback happens when we’re honest but not brutal – sharing clear, specific input that actually connects. It’s building trust by showing we care about the individual contributor and their personal success, not just their performance and not shying away from tough conversations that help everyone grow. Effective feedback addresses three key areas – the work, the process, the behaviors.
The Work – Quality, accuracy, scope, timelines.
The Process – Tools, methods, tactics, workflows.
The People – Communication, collaboration, interpersonal skills, team dynamics.
Here’s a rule of thumb, timing matters as much as the message itself:
Before and During Projects – Don’t wait. Real-time feedback in the moment fosters spontaneous collaboration and creative problem-solving where healthy, rigorous debate and disagreement allow the best ideas to emerge. The sum becomes greater than the individual parts.
After Projects – For larger projects, schedule regular debriefs, retrospectives or post-mortems to uncover what went right, what went wrong, and how to course correct as a team going forward. Allowing time to pass before these deeper dive sessions allows participants space to reflect from a higher perspective.
Hindsight’s 20/20.
Sync Vs. Async – Asynchronous mark-ups of someone else’s work – be it a document, design, spreadsheet, or any other piece, works fine… most of the time. Too many cooks in the kitchen leaving vague or conflicting comments, however, can lead to a never-ending merry-go-round, slow decision-making, and delayed delivery. In these instances, it’s often best to kill the async communication and get on a huddle and rip through together. Hours and days of back-and-forth document comments can often turn into quick, rapid decisions in minutes to keep things moving. Recognize when to go live.
A few tips to help you level up your feedback game:
- Know Your Audience – Creative professionals thrive on vision and flexibility, while technical teams tend to lean on precision and structure. Someone fresh out of college may need more direction and encouragement, whereas seasoned pros may prefer succinct, no-frills feedback.
- Be Clear & Specific – Replace vague, ambiguous statements with specific actionable guidance or preferences in language the receiver will hear and understand.
- Be Consistent – Make feedback a natural part of ongoing conversations, not something that pops up. Regularly check on progress and offer support or extra guidance.
- Be Direct – Call it like you see it. Keep it constructive, never mean. Avoid sugarcoating. Address personal conflicts privately.
- Be Coachable – If you don’t know how to give quality feedback (it’s common), say so and ask your team for help. How would they like to receive feedback from you?
- Facts, Not Feelings – Focus on tangibles: quality, deadlines, project goals, etc.
- Invite Collaboration – Allow the best ideas to emerge. “What do you think about simplifying this section?” or “How can we automate this step?”
Encourage creativity.
- Use The Tools – Workflow tools like Asana, Monday, ClickUp, and Figma removes the excessive app switching and lost communication from
excessive channels.
- It’s a Two-Way Street – Never one-way. By inviting open and candid input on your own performance and listening with an open mind, you’ll build mutual trust and respect.
