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Positive Feedback
Providing positive feedback effectively is a skill that will help others improve their skills. This type of effective communication will lead to an open, robust, and healthy workplace culture. Providing positive feedback will also give members of your team the tools and information they need to succeed on a personal level while helping the group succeed collectively.
Here are a couple of things to consider when providing positive feedback:
Motives
It is critical to be clear on your own motives for giving feedback. It should be without condition, and sincerely intended to build the person up and help him or her improve. Don’t project your feelings – or a possibly unrelated agenda – onto someone else. The purpose of giving and receiving feedback is to remove blind spots and to allow the organization to build openness and trust among all members.
Timeliness
The feedback should be timely, meaning close to the actual event and behavior being assessed. The more time that elapses between the event and the feedback, the less impact it has. If you’ve ever trained a puppy, you know that feedback needs to be immediate. Also as with puppies, it should be as specific as possible, with concrete examples. General compliments are nice, but people (and dogs) need to know what you want them to continue doing, or what you would like them to stop doing.