A Wave of Positive Feedback
During a time of upheaval, an employee’s wish to be recognized for good work increases. Brian Kropp, VP at Gartner, says,
"Our research shows the need to be recognized increases by 30 percent in terms of how important it is to employees. The reason is people are more concerned about keeping their jobs, they want assurances managers know they're working hard, or they want to know they're making a difference."
At the Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab Spring Partners program on April 25, Mary Murphy spoke about organizations that have a growth-centered culture where leaders believe everyone can improve and grow. Inherent in a company that thrives with a growth mindset is the ability to give good feedback. While we often spend a great deal of time thinking through, detailing, and even practicing critical/constructive feedback, we often don’t do the same when it comes to positive feedback.
Key characteristics of positive growth-minded feedback
“Great job!” “Nice work!” are frequent go-to phrases. While these are lovely things to say or message in the heat of the moment, getting specific on what your employee or co-worker is doing right means they will spend their energy in the right places in future efforts. Remember that effective positive feedback…
Praises effective effort, process, and persistence rather than intelligence and perfect performance.
Is specific about what people are doing well.
Embracing Diversity in Feedback
Erin Meyer's insights on cross-cultural and cross-generational feedback in her article “When Diversity Meets Feedback” are invaluable. Understanding cultural expectations, such as the degree of directness and frequency of feedback, along with generational differences in feedback preferences, is key. For instance, Boomers may be more accustomed to one-direction feedback, from boss to subordinate, while Gen Zers expect to “give and receive frequent, real-time feedback in all directions (subordinate to boss, peer to peer, and so on).” This understanding can foster a more inclusive and effective feedback culture.
In my experience, we’re never giving enough specific and positive feedback. What seemed overly expressive before the pandemic for me is now the norm, given our increasingly hybrid and/or remote collaborations. I don’t edit out exclamation marks nowadays, and I express appreciation and gratitude as often as possible. Especially at times when the team, company, or industry is sailing rough seas, it’s critical to lean into a wave of positive feedback.
About ModelExpand
ModelExpand is a strategic workplace advisory firm that helps companies put their ideals into action. We partner with organizations to implement, operationalize, and scale their Culture and People initiatives in a way that improves performance across the organization. The ModelExpand team is composed of people from all walks of life. The diversity of the team’s lived experiences, robust industry knowledge, and research acumen fuel ModelExpand’s innovative and tailored solutions. ModelExpand’s work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes and CultureAmp.
