Keeping Constructive Feedback Positive

Wouldn’t it be nice if all deadlines were met, all work was done well and right the first time and everyone always showed up on time? Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have a magical formula to make that happen. But when things do go wrong and you find yourself in the position of needing to give less than positive feedback to an employee, there is a right way to go about it:

• Define your goal in advance - If you want to fire the person, go ahead. But if you want to keep the employee on your team, come up with ways to give the feedback in a way that will inspire improvement.
• Don’t embarrass anyone publicly. Ever. - Don’t go on the attack and ream someone out in the middle of their cubicle with coworkers around. It’s not the most private place and you’ll end up seriously embarrassing your employee. If you embarrass people publicly it’s as if you’ve killed them. Anyone who’s unfortunate enough to have been in this situation knows that feeling of wanting to climb into a hole and die at that moment. They can also never work for you again without fearing the same event will be repeated. People don’t do great work when fearful.
• Don’t wait until the 11^th hour –If drafts have been turned in weekly for 4 weeks and you’ve been too busy to look at them, you have no right to blame the writer for a final product that you deem subpar. No one is inside your head but you. If you want something a specific way that you can’t explain explicitly, please be kind enough to review drafts during the process and give feedback as you go.
• If you must yell, yell like an Israeli –Israeli’s tend to yell a lot. But their yelling (at least in an office setting) does not come from a place of anger nor is it generally used for personal attacks. It is simply their way of communicating exciting ideas. So I encourage you to get and be passionate about your job and the output you are responsible for, but never get loud and angry in a personal way. Keep it about work, the quality of the work and the work expectations. The minute your feedback gets personal, your team member is going to tune you out entirely (while secretly planning your demise) and not be able to hear anything else you have to say.
• It’s a small world after all – The technical writing world is very small and getting smaller every day with Linked-in, Facebook and other social media. Be careful not to burn any bridges or you may come to seriously regret it.
• Be prepared – Write down what you want to accomplish, the messages you want to get across and be prepared for a discussion. Giving feedback should never be a one-sided attack. Open your ears and listen to your employee’s explanation of mitigating circumstances and possibly be prepared to take some (GASP-if not all) of the blame for the poor performance. You have to be willing to hear someone else’s point of view. One single person is not usually 100% responsible for a bad outcome. 
• Ask for help when you need it –If you’re burning mad and aren’t sure how to handle any given situation in a constructive way, ask HR or one of your management mentors for guidance and advice. Try not to open your mouth until you have counted to ten calmly or done some yoga or hugged a child, tree or a pillow. Do not have these types of meetings when angry. Keep it in perspective, no one died as a result! (If a heart surgeon is reading this then maybe this is not true.)
• How can we improve things?– Move away from blame and instead focus on how to improve the situation. Discuss concrete goals and how to achieve them. Maybe your writer needs more concrete feedback? Maybe  the SMEs have been uncooperative? Ask what you can do together to help your writer become a more successful employee and member of your team.

Giving feedback should never be unpleasant for you or the person(s) on the receiving end. If it is, take a step back and try to figure out where you went wrong and how to fix things. The health of your team and your ability to accomplish great things together depends on it.