How to Build a Culture of Accountability | Part 4A: 5 Steps for Giving High Quality Feedback

Accountability is critical at every level of every organization, whether you lead a startup, nonprofit, or government agency. In this series, we discuss each element of accountability, why it matters, and ways to build it on your team.

We’re starting Part 4 of our journey through accountability. As a reminder, the five elements of accountability are (1) clear expectations, (2) clear capabilities, (3) clear measurement, (4) clear feedback, and (5) clear consequences. In the next posts, we dive into feedback.

Good feedback can help you do your job better. Great feedback can change your life.

Some of the best feedback I received came from an anonymous 360 review early in my career. At that point, I was a young advisor to the senior executive team. I typically stayed quiet in meetings because I assumed that those older, more experienced executives likely had better insight than I did. Through an anonymous 360 review, one of my teammates shared that I often had great ideas and insight, but I rarely shared my thoughts unless someone asked. That teammate encouraged me to share my thoughts more proactively, because my ideas and insight were often a great help to my team.

From that point on, I shelved my insecurity and shared my ideas and insight much more openly with my teammates. The results were astounding - our team meetings became much more structured and focused, we successfully navigated a large-scale reorganization, and I was promoted to a senior executive position in less than six months. My teammate's feedback equipped me to help my team in huge ways, and it ultimately changed the trajectory of my career. I will always be grateful for that feedback.

Many of us have been on the receiving end of transformational feedback. Now as leaders, we get to pay it forward by giving our teammates high-quality feedback that can change their lives for the better.

Why Feedback Matters

Good feedback helps the receiver learn and grow, gaining the perspective they need to perform their jobs well and unlock future opportunities. As Gallup puts it, “Employees need to know how they are doing, how their work is being perceived and what the future holds.” Leaders can use feedback to help their teammates identify what they do well and where they can improve, learn their teammates’ aspirations and goals, and chart a course to improved performance and professional development.

Good feedback also gives the receiver clarity on their standing in the organization. If they don’t get clarity from you, your teammates are on their own to assess their performance and standing on your team. This may result in teammates’ uncertainty, lack of confidence, or false confidence thinking they are much better at their jobs than they actually are.

5 Steps to Giving Great Feedback

Getting feedback is critical, but not all feedback is created equal. In fact, one Gallup survey found that only 26% of employees strongly agreed that the feedback they received helped them do their jobs better.

Leaders should keep the following points in mind to deliver high quality feedback to their teammates every time:

1) Positive Purpose

• Your feedback’s main goal should be helping your teammate learn, grow, and do her job better.

• This includes both her present responsibilities (improving specific aspects of her current day-to-day job responsibilities) and her aspirational goals (growing into broader organizational responsibility).

• Examples:

  • Helping a teammate realize that his application review error rate is much higher than his peers. Once he recognizes the problem, you can help him design a quality control checklist or take other steps to reduce his error rates.

  • Encouraging a front-line team member with managerial aspirations to volunteer to lead an internal affinity group or committee so she can get some firsthand people-leadership experience.

2) Specific and Actionable

• Feedback should equip your teammate to take specific actions that will impact specific outcomes.

• Don’t settle for high-level overviews and general comments. Dig deeper to identify the specific things your teammate did (or didn’t do) that will equip them for stellar performance in the future.

• Examples:

  • “You did a great job on that presentation. In particular, the slides clearly communicated the main points, you made clear what your findings meant for our team, and you gave us three new ideas to generate repeat business from our customers. Keep it up for future presentations!”

  • “You looked really nervous in that meeting with our biggest customer. I noticed you fidgeting in your chair and looking away when they asked you some tough questions. Next time, you can inspire a lot more confidence in our organization by practicing your responses to tough questions ahead of time, maintaining eye contact during the meeting, and sitting still.”

3) Stick to the Facts

• You should base your feedback on objective observations and results, not high-level assumptions or generalizations.

• When leaders don’t tie their feedback to specific facts (e.g., individual performance metrics, observations from a specific client meeting), their teammates might conclude that the leader simply doesn’t like them or doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Such perceptions can damage long-term trust or, in extreme cases, lead to lawsuits alleging bias or discrimination.

4) Holistic

• As a leader, you need to candidly address the good, the bad, and everything in between.

• Delivering bad feedback can be uncomfortable, but without it your teammate may not even know there’s a problem, much less how to fix it.

• Once negative feedback is out in the open, work with your teammate to help him improve. This will make life better for him, you, and the rest of your team.

5) Timely

• Feedback should happen on a consistent, timely basis to ensure accurate recall and appropriate action.

• Typically, the more frequent the better. Employees who receive daily feedback are over 3.5 times more motivated to do outstanding work (see, e.g., Netflix, which makes frequent feedback a central part of its culture).

• At the very least, feedback sessions should happen once per quarter.

Questions for Leaders

• What’s the most valuable feedback you’ve received in your career?

• What made that feedback so valuable to you?

• Are you providing that quality of feedback to your teammates? If not, what might be holding you back?

Next Time

Of course, feedback is not a one-way street. Leaders also need to invite and obtain feedback to improve their own performance and their organization. Next time, we will discuss how to create a high quality upward feedback culture inside an organization.

Michael Lanahan serves as Founder and Principal of MBL Ventures, a management consulting firm that helps business, nonprofit, and public sector leaders navigate issues of strategy, structure, and government.

To learn more, please visit www.mblventuresllc.com.