Does the idea of providing positive and/or negative feedback make you feel uncomfortable? Whether you are a manager, director, or other senior executive, you are not alone. If  one-to-one’s with your direct reports have you feeling like a feedback scrooge, don’t fret. In this blog, Leadology Founder Carrie Skowronski provides three examples and prompts for giving the gift of recognition this holiday season.

The Benefits of Providing Consistent Feedback in the Workplace

It’s no secret that Leadology is a huge proponent of recognition and building crucial communication skills for managers.

A recent study discussed by the Greater Good Magazine covered over 20,000 employees across multiple industries. We were not surprised by these findings! According to their article, higher levels of feedback were associated with:

  • 89 percent greater thriving at work;

  • 63 percent  more engagement; and

  • 79 percent higher job satisfaction.

Consistent, meaningful feedback contributes to employee retention up to 120 percent. This is a statistic that we fully support and have found in our own work with 1000s of managers across 100s of companies.

How Different Types of Feedback Land in the Workplace

To see a positive impact in the workplace, the type of feedback we use is important. Constructive criticism is valuable, but recognizing someone’s positive contributions boosts morale, a sense of belonging, and engagement. To help your company grow, change, or improve its culture in any way, recognition and appreciation of your employees must be a part of your people strategy.

Feedback Examples You Should Use During a Performance Review

Here are four tips to help make recognition and appreciation a staple in your team’s feedback conversations:

  • Identify both short and long-term growth. Research and experience have shown that feeling a sense of progress is a powerful motivator in the workplace. This motivation is not solely driven by monetary rewards. With this in mind, tailor feedback to the individual and make note of their growth over time. Ensure to highlight how your employee’s positive impact today can make a profound contribution down the road. This evokes positive intentions for the future at the company.

  • Back it up with specific examples. Providing real examples strengthens positive actions and behaviors for our teams to keep doing in the future. Offering feedback about individual strengths also helps us communicate the ways in which specific skills contribute to overall team successes. This shows employees what areas they can continue to strengthen through professional development opportunities, taking small wins and making them even better.

  • Be mindful of how you deliver feedback. Be careful with how negative facial expressions and non-verbal cues impact how the feedback is received. This is equally important with positive feedback. Those receiving positive feedback accompanied by negative emotional signals have often reported feeling worse about their performance than participants who received constructive negative feedback. Remember, how you offer recognition is just as important as the message you’re conveying!

  • Actively listen, express gratitude, and practice radical candor. Radical candor is “caring personally while challenging directly,” as taught by Kim Scott. While recognition is a motivator, so is continuous improvement. If there is something that needs to change to stay on track, be sure to give employees that feedback too.  People want to know where they stand. And if they are off-track, it is our radical responsibility as leaders to redirect their efforts. It is much easier to give that feedback in a timely manner than to let it fester while the pattern of behavior becomes worse.

This article was republished with permission from Leadology.