How to Give More Powerful Positive Feedback

How to Give More Powerful Positive FeedbackHow to Give More Powerful Positive Feedback Contrary to popular belief, giving positive feedback to your direct reports isnt just about recognizing them and making them feel good. While those are important factors, theres a lot mora to it.Great managers get this. Instead of jumping in with a rote nice job or thanks, they take a few extra minutes to consider how to give praise in a way that will be truly useful . Maybe you highlight an element of someones work that veers away from a less productive habit, or help an insecure direct report see a strength he or she was unaware of, or inspire the whole gruppe to match someones proactive approach to solving a problem.Also keep in mind that powerful feedback needs to beAuthentic. People can tell when youre exaggerating or havesome ulterior motive in mind. If you dont genuinely believe someones behavior deserves recognition and has the impact you claim, then dont give the praise.Sp ecific. Describe the precise behavior you noticed so that recipients understand what theyve done and that you noticed it. And describe the impact of that behavior so that theyll understand why they should continue doing it. As youre preparing the feedback, think of the formula I noticed X, and the impact is Y.Individualized. A compliment thats highly motivating to one person may fall flat with another. As you choose your approach and words, draw from how your direct report has reacted in the past. Also, make a point of asking about motivations and goals in one-on-ones , setting yourself up to link positive feedback to what drives the person. What if you dont have enough of a foundation to customize your feedback when something praise-worthy happens? Try leading with a question before you give feedback (e.g., What do you think went best in the meeting you just facilitated? ), then calibrating your praise based on the persons answer (e.g., I agree - I love how we all walked away wi th clear action items thatwill help move the project forward more quickly ). For more on listening and responding, see 9 tips to listen like a leader .Below are just a few examples of how you couldgive effective reinforcing feedback to a direct report who has justdelivered an excellent presentation to colleagues. You can modifythese approaches to fityour direct reports accomplishment.Great job today. I noticed how youre applying the things weve been talking about in our one-on-ones Y our tone of voice was more authoritative, you used nontechnical language that the whole group could relate to and your message was much more clear and focused. When you compare your presentation today to the one you gave brde quarter, youve come a long way .Y our presentation today was so engaging. I especially liked how you spoke up clearly and made a point of making eye contact with each person in the room. I know youve said in the past that talking in front of groups makes you nervous, buttoday y ou came across as in command. It was a great example of your persistence and strength.I know you put a tremendous amount of work into todays presentation - not only with all the data you gathered from other departments, but also the hours you put in over the weekend. I appreciate the extraordinary effort. It shows your commitment and will go a long way to helping the team feel prepared when they talk to clients. Next time, lets figure out how we can save you some prep time.Great job today. The clear way you presented the process is going to help the team get up to speed quickly. Youve saved them probably a weeks worth of work, since now they dont have to dig around for their own answers. Theyll have your handy slides to use as reference.Great job today. The way you outlined the competitive landscape gave everyone important context theyll need to implement the new client strategy. It wasa big contribution toward our department goal this quarter. Keep thinking along these lines.You r presentation today really showed off your communication skills , especially the way you connected Mauras idea at the end to what Tobias had said earlier. I think pointing that out helped clarify next steps for everyone. Yourability to draw connections and package information like that is a real next-level leadership skill.You did an excellent job involving each member of the team in todays presentation. And you managed to do it without putting anyoneon the spot andmaking them feel uncomfortable. And your presenting next steps as questions really helped everyone feel like they were part of the process. Thats the kind of inclusion thatll help us work better as a team.Acknowledge the relative size of the accomplishmentYou did a great job ending your presentation on time today. That may seem like a small thing, but I could tell the group appreciated having that time for Q&A.Thank you for the amazing presentation today. When you take the kampagne to gather and present all that marke t research, it saves me a ton of time and is a huge help. And the way you explained it made me see connections between our process and business results in ways I hadnt before.Nice work today - you nailed it. The way you presented the process step by step was exactly what I had in mind when we talked through it in our planning meeting last week. I also liked how you included the client impact with each step - that really went above and beyond.This article was originally published on Jhana.com . Reprinted with permission.