Communication in Teams

Feedback

Feedback is a reaction from an individual directly or indirectly communicating how someone's thinking and/or behavior affect him or her. These reactions are communicated by means of words, tone, innuendo, and behavior, expressed or withheld. (Culbert, Mindset Management, 1996)

The purpose of feedback is to understand what the sender and receiver agree upon and to identify the context in which they understand how the information will be utilized. To utilize feedback effectively a person must understand that people see every event differently. Viewing things differently doesn't mean that people can’t understand one another, nor does it mean that a team cannot come to consensus. It is important to understand that distinct interests and motives are the driving forces behind people’s participation and these are neither known to you or under your control. There are different forms of feedback:

• Spontaneous vs. Planned
• Team vs. individual Feedback
• Positive feedback
• Constructive feedback
• Negative feedback (Destructive)
• Verbal vs. nonverbal feedback

Knowing how to give feedback is important. To develop this skill there are some simple steps you can follow:

1. Write feedback on post-it-notes without naming yourself.
2. Set up an e-mail system where you can register feedback to the facilitator (team leader) to be discussed at the next meeting.
3. Send the feedback to your team coordinator and have the coordinator send it to the team leader.
4. Start the feedback with the word “I”.
5. Describe the behavior that is in question.
6. Tell how you feel the behavior could be changed by being constructive not destructive.
7. Describe your observations (touch, feel, smell, hear, see and what, how, when, and where).
8. Explain how the behavior was helpful or not helpful in achieving the task.
9. Give positive feedback to create trust and team spirit, reinforce common team goals, and energize the team.
10. Use Constructive feedback to identify conflicts, productivity impediments, and areas for personal and group improvement.
11. Use formalized constructive feedback to reduce conflict within an environment of trust.
12. There is no “one best way” to give feedback.

Summary of Constructive Feedback

1. Acknowledge the need
2. Give both positive and negative feedback
3. Understand the context
4. Be descriptive and use facts/examples
5. Don’t use labels (i.e., immature, unprofessional)
6. Describe behavior
7. Be exact, don’t exaggerate
8. Be nonjudgmental
9. Speak for yourself, not the team
10. Use “I” rather than “the team doesn’t like it when....”
11. Talk about yourself, not the other person:

    Effective:

    “I feel annoyed when you are late for meetings.”

    “I appreciate your coming to meetings on time.”

    Ineffective:

    “You are frequently late for meetings.”

    “You are very prompt for meetings.”

    Effective:

    “I feel frustrated when I am interrupted and can not complete my thoughts.”

    Ineffective:

    “You always interrupt me.”

12. Phrase the issue as a statement, not a question:

Effective:

“I appreciate you coming to the meeting on time.”

Ineffective:

“When are you going to start coming to meetings on time?”

13. Restrict feedback to things you know for certain.

14. Help people hear and accept your compliments when giving positive feedback.

15. Listen to responses.

16. Be willing to help the other person think through ways to address constructive feedback.

There are times when you should not give feedback:

• You don’t know the circumstances of the behavior
• You do not care about the person or will not be around long enough to follow up on the situation
• The person has no power to change the behavior or circumstances
• The person has low self-esteem
• Your purpose is not really improvement, but to put someone on the spot
• Your purpose is to demonstrate how smart or how much better you are

Receiving feedback is also a skill and there are a few easy steps to follow to make receiving feedback easy:

1. Relax
2. Listen actively (don’t try to think of how to respond or develop solutions while the other person is giving constructive feedback)
3. Acknowledge the feedback
4. Clarify the feedback
5. Reflect upon the valid points
6. Take time to sort out what you have heard.

(Source: 1997/1996 Sloan School of Management, Project Team; Harrington-Mackin, D., 1996. Keeping the Team Going: A Tool Kit to Renew & Refuel Your Workplace Teams. New York, NY: American Management Association.)