Feedback is a must in a remote world blog

Learning how to give feedback to colleagues can be an issue. What is the most precise way to give feedback and how can I achieve sensitivity and directness? How can I promote an engaging discussion that will leave my colleague feeling empowered and positive?

Remote working environments can amplify those challenges. Body language or subtle cues which are easily interpreted when in person may be difficult to perceive remotely. And so, when you are able to give constructive feedback, whether positive or negative, the wires are crossed, and people may not be in the best condition to be able to comprehend your thoughts.

Feedback, despite it's pitfalls and complexities it is an essential part of teamwork. There is no way to simply pray that your team magically closes the gaps in those points of improvement. Nor will your team be able to continue their task for an indefinite period without support from the leadership and encouragement.

This article, we'll share some best practices that can assist you in improving your feedback to your colleagues. We'll dive into.

Feedback constructively

Take into consideration the way of delivery

In the plethora of options for communications at your disposal, remember to choose wisely. It is a good idea to inquire regularly the new members of your team (or the current members of your team) how they prefer communicating, as well as the way they prefer receiving feedback.

Although your company may have a standard for regular reviews, feedback could occur at any time and it's important to ensure your team members are fully at their desks and are comfortable receiving it. It could be as simple as turning off the camera or writing a thoughtful and informative email or scheduling regular 1:1 meetings based on their level of comfort and the goals within the company.

Create a safe environment

In a physical office you'll find plenty of ways to set a tone through the environment. Invite a coworker to a coffee break and discuss how they felt about a big client meeting that didn't go so well you could go to a conference room for intense conversations, or even take them to the hall for a quick high five. But in a remote world is it difficult to pick the ideal location for what you'd like to discuss. In the end, you'll need to set up psychologically safety warnings.
It could also mean that your meeting time is one where they won't be distracted by work demands, dressing appropriately for the occasion (a casual appearance goes far in making people feel relaxed) as well as recommending the possibility of a phone call or camera shut-off to break people from the screen. A voice-only meeting also scales down the fear of the meeting and fosters active listening on both sides. Which brings us to our second point.

Listen (but don't pry!)

A distributed workplace where communication patterns are constantly changing and the lines between life and work are more transparent Active listening can build confidence and trust. Active listening gives you situational awareness of what your teammates have been experiencing beyond work and what factors affect their performance. It gives you the opportunity to improve feedback delivery, understand how to improve it as well as how you can create a better working environment for your team members.

Start with the good instead of the negative

It's long been known that a compliment sandwich -- where negative feedback is sandwiched in between two positives--is an effective method to convey difficult news. However, positive feedback has gained a sense of urgency nowadays. Most people are stressed in a variety of areas (like health, family as well as social and existential) and despite your best efforts, most likely also professionally) and could really get positive reinforcement.

From these constant stressful situations comes what psychologists call negative bias, which is the tendency to focus and dwell on negative criticism instead of positive feedback. Employers have to do their best to emphasize those who are positive over those who are not. However critical your feedback might be, the best thing to do is be able to start with compassion and understanding, and acknowledge all the effort the team members of your organization contributed to this challenging time.

You should be specific and take action with your feedback

In order to counter negative and biases, focus on specific feedback that provides practical insights instead of general remarks on confidence, behavior, or work ethic, or conflict resolution abilities, which could be easily wrongly interpreted or not helpful.

Good feedback isn't just a review of your performance. It's as well an opportunity to develop and setting goals. The most effective feedback is in the event that you have a particular goal and expectation in mind, and can easily communicate to the employee what they can do in order to assist them on their way.

It is also possible to tie feedback to the action or impact you want how their thinking directly led to a profit, or the way unintentional or inadequate communication caused another worker having to re-do certain tasks and what could be better handled next time.

Your feedback should be prioritized to highlight the most critical points

Instead of storing a laundry list of critiques or comments to sift through at in a conference, you should consider the most important feedback you can provide to issues that will have the biggest impact when it is needed.

Review the most important takeaways

When you have finished the meeting, you should ask your participants to review the most important points. You can either think about ways that they could overcome any gaps in performance and/or continue growing in their position (and how you might be able to support them) or request them to offer up their report of the meeting in the event that they're confident enough to do so. The goal is to make sure you're both aligned and to be able to assure that the information you've received has arrived exactly where it was intended.

Follow up

In the weeks or months after your feedback meeting, check in with them to see how they're doing. This is an opportunity to continue building confidence, or make sure that they're capable of balancing their shifting responsibilities, and reinforce positive feedback.

Video tips for collaboration and feedback

Make use of video recordings to create presentations for comments

Pre-record post-mortem thoughts and group comments

How to give feedback FAQs

    What are the best positive feedback examples?    

A positive review example: "Sarah has done an incredible job at removing unnecessary assignments and developing useful tools for the team. We'd love to see her grow her skills by continuing to tackle new assignments and imparting her knowledge and expertise through presentations as well as various other tools."                     How do you write Peer feedback?    

Couch constructive feedback and provide positive feedback. Your feedback should be practical and concrete and also tied to a specific goal. Create opportunities for team members to provide feedback. Listen with empathy and offer support where needed.                     What's a good example of constructive feedback?    

Feedback constructive "Phil was able to manage the workload which was 10% higher than in the year before with enthusiasm, running his programs efficiently and ensuring that they meet deadlines. The one challenge that I would present to him for the following year is to boost his level of communication with the stakeholders in order to ensure transparency throughout his project's life cycle in order to keep ahead of potential roadblocks."