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When to Give Feedback to Subordinates

Giving feedback is not the same as holding an annual performance review. It’s true that honest feedback is an essential ingredient in a formal review process, but the benefits of feedback occur as part of an ongoing process, not as a one-shot deal. Your goal is to create a relationship with your employees that allows you to give honest feedback about behavior and performance without putting them on the defensive. Timing is critical. You should give feedback regularly, give feedback at the moment it is needed, give feedback when development opportunities arise, and give feedback when it is necessary for an employee to modify behavior to improve performance.

Give Feedback Frequently

Because the benefits of feedback are accrued over time, you should give feedback often. This gives you the best chance of reinforcing positive behavior and of influencing change in unacceptable behavior. By frequently giving feedback, you will find it’s easier to focus on a specific behavior. Giving frequent feedback also helps you develop a less formal approach to delivering your message. This kind of feedback need only take a minute.

Lucy, the logic of your argument in that meeting was very persuasive. You had my complete attention. I noticed that others were asking different kinds of questions at the end of your presentation than they were asking at the beginning. Your presentation moved me from skepticism to enthusiasm. Judging from the body language around the room, I think others shared that feeling.

Make Feedback Timely

There’s little value to dredging up a behavior that occurred six months earlier. Whether you want to reinforce or correct an employee’s behavior, it’s important to speak to the employee when the experience is fresh. If a subordinate’s actions threaten the success of a task, now is the time to talk. You want to help your employee improve before another project derails.

Jake, you haven’t kept your team informed of its progress on a timely basis. As a result, a project milestone was missed and I’ve had to move the completion date back two months. I am having doubts as to whether you can manage this team. Already, this delay will negatively impact product introduction and sales.

Giving timely and frequent feedback lets you observe more of your subordinates’ behavior. Too often, managers notice and comment only on extreme behavior—the truly outstanding performance or the truly dreadful gaffe. But almost everything an employee does falls between these extremes. Look for and give feedback on those more usual behaviors.

Offer Feedback for Development

Making employees aware of potential opportunities and providing constructive steps they can take to achieve those goals are key motivations for providing effective feedback to subordinates. Help your subordinates look to the future by guiding them to the action they need to take to succeed.

Let’s take the case of Angela. You believe she would be a good person to manage the new branch office. She has most of the skills she needs to succeed there, and you can help her find resources so she can learn what she doesn’t know. You want to let her know about this opportunity and to see if it fits in with her personal career goals.