Feedback

Feedback is information given to a person about their work, behaviour or results, based on what the giver observed, so that the person can adjust. It differs from an opinion or a judgement because it ties a specific fact to its effect: "the report arrived the morning of the meeting, so nobody had read it" rather than "you're always late".

Feedback can be spoken or written, informal or part of a formal review. Positive feedback tells someone what to keep doing. Corrective feedback asks for a change. Both work better when they come soon after the fact.

What makes feedback useful

• It describes a dated fact rather than a personality trait.
• It says what that fact changed for the giver, the team or the client.
• It concerns something the person can act on.
• It opens a conversation, since the person receiving it often knows part of the story the giver missed.

Structured methods help people follow these points when the conversation is difficult. The OSCAR method goes from the observation of facts to their consequence, then to the action and the expected results. SBI, developed by the Center for Creative Leadership, follows a similar path: situation, behaviour, impact.

Where feedback shows up at work

Companies collect feedback in performance reviews, from clients in quality management, and from users in product development. In teams that distribute authority through roles, feedback between peers takes over part of what the annual review with a manager used to do.