Feedback Strategies

I think I speak for almost everyone when I say that positive feedback is extremely important, as it gives us a way to know what we are already performing well at. But constructive negative feedback is very important as well. During my internship this summer, I really dove into the problem I was after due to going into my manager's office and showing what I had found, and them guiding me. Even a simple "you're in the right direction" went a long way in helping me stay motivated, even when it was hard to stay focused towards the end.

Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise?
I found it interesting that many managers struggle to give positive feedback, mostly relying on negative feedback when they do give feedback. Seeing the statistic that 37% of managers don't give positive feedback was crazy. Positive feedback can be just as big, if not bigger, than negative, as I feel like many employees are motivated by learning what they did well on, and can feel unappreciated if the only feedback they receive is what they did poorly on. These little changes can go a long way in making someone a more successful manager.

The Trouble With Amazing
I will admit, I often fall into the trap of saying good job, awesome, or something similar when reviewing people's work, as I don't want to be the one that critiques it harshly, and I simply don't always know what to change. It used to be a game in high school to see who could critique "you put the wrong date" on someone's English paper so that we could have our one correction out of the way. It's easy to be generic and simple, but you gain a lot more from being specific with feedback. I liked how it mentioned fake praise being an issue, especially when the recipient knows they didn't deserve it. It almost feels like a participation trophy when that happens, at least for me. I definitely will work on being more specific with feedback after reading this, as I know how much I dislike non-specific feedback.

Motivation to become better with feedback

Source: MaxPixel