When is the right time to give feedback?
My core belief in leading with heart means I build and grow honest, clear working relationships with people. I’m not a huge fan of bottling things up and keeping them in, but there is a real nuance to identifying when to give feedback to someone.
First, what I’ve seen not work: sitting on feedback for weeks or months at a time. It’s a highly detrimental technique. It erodes trust on both sides of the conversation, and it introduces an element of surprise. I once received feedback on a particular client engagement nearly a year after it happened. During that engagement, I worked closely with lead researchers and executives, but heard not a single negative thing about my work. Imagine my surprise 10 months later when I was involved in a discussion about something that had happened so long ago! I wasn’t prepared, but the person giving me the feedback sure was.
Identifying when to give feedback should be led by the type of feedback being given. If it’s hot off of a presentation, for example, and I have feedback about someone’s presentation style… I’ll likely set that up pretty quickly so we can talk through it. (“You did a great job – nice work! Is it okay with you if I share a few pieces of feedback based on what I noticed?” “I’d like to set up time to go over some feedback from that presentation.”) If it’s not heavy feedback, I’ll typically get that scheduled the same day or pretty quickly behind it.
If it’s a larger piece of feedback – say, the strategic direction for a track of work is seemingly off – I balance the urgency of the request with my readiness to give said feedback. If we’re knee-deep in a project and we need to course correct, that’s going to happen quickly. If we’re planning something out in the early days, but I have real concerns about things being missed or not handled within our shared values, I’ll want to do more homework for that conversation. But, because I often work well with deadlines, I’ll get that scheduled with the person in question and work backwards from the date.
As you can see, there’s a real balance and art to determining when to give some types of feedback.
Lastly, if it’s positive feedback? Make that happen IMMEDIATELY. As quickly as possible! When my team has done well with work, or a client call, or a pitch… I’m absolutely right there cheering them on for the work they did.