The Importance of Negative Feedback
And how to exchange negative feedback in a positive way
Negative feedback might be the single most valuable thing you can receive. No one is perfect; everyone has things they can improve on. And even though they might not tell you, chances are that your friends and family are aware of the ways in which you could improve. Instead of ignoring the reality of our imperfection, we should consider our mistakes as opportunities to grow. One way to do this is to seek negative — and constructive — feedback from others. The problem is that no one actually likes doing this.
In this article we look at a way to exchange negative feedback that benefits both parties by avoiding the uncomfortable and direct exchange of negative feedback. We use the example of a workplace with managers and employees to illustrate how this type of feedback can be exchanged.
Direct Feedback
Suppose that I am assigned a new project at work, and upon completing the project my manager is disappointed in the quality of the work I have done. In an attempt to help me do better in the future, my manager might call me into her office and tell me that I did a bad job. This is an example of giving direct feedback. Although I should appreciate the time and energy my manager is investing in trying to help me improve, I am likely to get defensive and leave her office frustrated. We attempt to solve this problem by changing the method of feedback delivery.
Indirect Feedback
The goal is to provide negative feedback from one party to another. The problem is that most parties do not like receiving negative feedback. The solution is to give lots of positive feedback when deserved, and only give negative feedback when the quality of work is significantly worse than average. This will result in more positive feedback being given to the other party, which conditions them to sort of expect it. Once this standard is set, you can indirectly give negative feedback by giving no feedback at all. This idea is based on the effects of positive reinforcement in behavioral psychology.
It might sound strange at first, but I have found this to be very effective in practice. For example, suppose that I am at work when my boss assigns a new project to me. If I do a great job, she will tell me. If I don’t, she will say nothing. Because I am a great employee I will get used to turning in projects and getting positive feedback. If one day I turn in a project and do not receive positive feedback, I will suspect that the quality of my work was below average. As a good employee, I might look over the project and try to find ways to improve it. Often times I will recognize any mistakes on my own, but if not I will ask my boss if there is anything I could have done better. In the first case, the uncomfortable exchange of formal and direct negative feedback is avoided. In the second case, I have asked my boss for constructive feedback which allows her to provide it in a way that will likely be well received.
Other Benefits
In my experience this method is not only received better, but also motivates people to improve more than the direct feedback method. I believe this is because it allows individuals to recognize and correct their own mistakes. This is analogous to the sensation of discovering something on your own as opposed to having someone explain it to you.
Another benefit of using this method is that it will result in more positive feedback being shared overall. By constantly providing positive feedback we make the receiving party feel valued. Additionally, the party giving feedback is more likely to be perceived as one that is always focused on the positive.
Limitations
This method does not work with employees that require more negative feedback than positive feedback. If one of your employees is seldom deserving of positive feedback you will not be able to condition them to expect it and will therefore be unable to provide feedback indirectly.
Think Big
While the exchange of negative feedback from managers to employees is important, the topics discussed in this article are general enough to apply to a much larger domain. We provide feedback on countless things every day, and that feedback has the potential to help those things improve. Tell the chef of your favorite restaurant that your meal was great, mail the author of your favorite book to tell them how it changed your life, and leave a review of your favorite app on the app store so they know what features you like. Not only will the receiving party appreciate your feedback, they will be able to use it to improve in the future.
