Bridging the Gap – How to Give Team Members the Feedback and Recognition They Crave

By: Elissa Gurman

It’s common knowledge that there are two sides to every story. So, when Gallup conducted a study of managers and individual contributors across the United States to identify managers’ strengths and weaknesses, I was unsurprised to find that there were gaps between managers’ self-perceptions and individual contributors’ perceptions of their managers. What I was surprised by was the size of the gaps – and where they were focused. 

When it came to the “blind spots” (their words, not mine) that Gallup identified for managers, two stood out: 

• Managers say they give more feedback than individual contributors say they receive (50% of managers strongly agree that they provide weekly feedback to team members, as opposed to just 20% of individual contributors who say they receive weekly feedback from their manager); and,
• Managers say they provide more recognition than individual contributors say they receive (59% of managers say they provide recognition for good work as opposed to 35% of individual contributors who say they receive recognition for good work)

To me, this is not a story of managers lying or not understanding what they deliver, but of a gap between what individuals expect when it comes to feedback and recognition, and what managers feel confident and authentic delivering. 

So, how can you deliver more consistent, high-quality feedback and recognition to team members? Here are some of our best tips. 

Feedback

Quality feedback is consistent, timely, objective, compassionate, and impact-oriented. Let’s unpack those nice words:

Consistent: Give feedback regularly, after meetings, deliverables, and projects. Not only will this help team members improve, but it’ll also reduce managers’ and team members’ stress around feedback, as it’s less of an “oh man, I messed up” situation and more of a regular thing that “just happens” at expected intervals. 

Timely: Give feedback within a couple of business days of whatever it is you’re giving feedback about. If you wait a week, it’ll feel less relevant and you’ll be more likely to lose your nerve. 

Objective: Give feedback about behaviours that anyone could observe. Do not make interpretations about what a person might have been thinking or trying to do. State objective facts. 

Compassionate: Take the time to understand the circumstances that could have led to errors. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Avoid judgemental language and always separate the work or skill from the individual. Provide feedback in a way you would want to receive it – respectfully, honestly, and compassionately.

Impact-Oriented: Feedback should help an individual to change their behaviour. Think of the impact you want your feedback to have and design your approach to meet that goal. 

Recognition

Recognition should be easy, but it can be tricky. Remember love languages? Well, just like different people have different ways they like love expressed, different people have vastly different preferences and expectations when it comes to workplace recognition. Sometimes, these differences are generational. Gen Z and Millennials typically want a lot more recognition (multiple times a month) than Boomers and Gen X. Sometimes these differences come down to personality types. Here are our best tips to give your team the recognition they want and deserve:

Don’t Forget to Say it Out Loud. Sometimes we think “oh, that was great” and move on with our day without telling the person who did the work. It’s always worth the time to send a quick email with praise when the thought arises. 

Be Specific. “That was great” is so much less meaningful and helpful than “I really appreciated the way you tailored this for our client. Your attention to detail makes a huge difference in our work.” Be specific so that team members can learn from your feedback, and so they feel it’s sincere.

Make it Meaningful. This is where it’s different for everyone, but if your organization has a recognition program, use it. If you think an employee would appreciate a public call out, do that. If you think that would embarrass them, keep it private. Think about the person in question and the mechanisms available to you and make the praise matter. 

Don’t Pick Favourites. Public praise of the same team member over and over again can do more harm than good. First, ask yourself if any favoritism or bias is playing a role in this pattern. Then, work to either move that person’s praise off-line (and less public) or to actively try to expose yourself to more team members’ work and strengths so you have more opportunities to spread praise equitably, when it is due. 

Want to learn more about how to give the right feedback and recognition? Reach out anytime to chat about our leadership development courses, where we cover just that.