What Is Constructive Feedback?

Constructive feedback is given when an individual provides a meaningful judgment based on observation to promote
a positive change in the other person’s productivity, performance, or behavior. Constructive feedback is supportive
feedback given to individuals. It helps to identify and reveal solutions to areas of weakness. Therefore, it comes with
positive intentions and is used as a supportive communication tool to address specific issues or concerns.
Every successful organization ensures a regular flow of feedback in both directions. whether it is the feedback from
the employers regarding some policy implementation or the employees who are unable to confirm a new code of
conduct, feedback maintains a smooth flow of work process.

Types Of Constructive Feedback

The style of giving feedback is different from organization to organization and from person to person. Authoritative
management might believe in throwing harsh criticisms, while other organizations may believe in providing
affirmations and accolades incentives or rewards which tend to promote the proper functioning. So, depending on
the style of giving feedback, constructive criticism can be given in mainly four ways:

Negative feedback: Sharing the correct course of action by passing judgments on past actions. It aims to eliminate
failed attempts and focuses on unproductive means and methods. Corrective comments about past behaviour.
Focuses on behaviour that wasn’t successful and shouldn’t be repeated.
Positive feedback: Giving positive remarks on previous actions or methods to ensure their practice remains in trend.
Affirming comments about past behaviour. Focuses on behaviour that was successful and should be continued.
Negative feedforward: It aims to avoid failed attempts in the future by criticizing certain actions. Corrective
comments about future performance. Focuses on behaviour that should be avoided in the future.
Positive feedforward: It aims to ensure the continuous practice of behaviour which promotes growth and
development. Affirming comments about future behaviour. Focused on behaviour that will improve performance in
the future.

Other than the four instruments mentioned above, the usage of destructive feedback can also be found in certain
business entities. However, people tend to confuse negative constructive feedback with destructive feedback. Let us
try and decode their meaning and aim.

What Is Destructive Feedback?

Destructive feedback aims to deteriorate an employee’s or an individual’s morale by passing rude judgments. These
judgments might arise due to incomplete tasks or failed projects but their aim is never to elevate the overall
performance. Such comments tend to degrade the performance level of any company.

For example, a project head repeatedly scolds an employee for project delays but never enquires about the methods
or the reasons for the same. Negative constructive feedback, on the other hand, focuses on improving performance
by using tools such as criticism or over time. For example, Mr. X was asked to stay back after office hours to
compensate for the project delay, which occurred due to his absence.

Few more examples;

Destructive Feedback: Trust me, you are one of the most amateur workers we have ever hired
Negative constructive feedback: Your method will not yield positive results. You should incorporate one’s developed
by your mates.
Now that we are acquainted with the idea of constructive feedback, let us dig deep into why these are important
and how they can contribute to a company’s success.

Importance Of Constructive Feedback

Increases employee morale: Proper feedback helps in improving productivity which further encourages an individual
to contribute more to his work.
Initiates a communication channel: Often, employees end up being caged at the ground level because of zero
communication between the authorities and the subordinated. Feedback helps in removing such barriers to the free
flow of communication.
Ensure zero wastage of resources: Resources are limited to any organisation and adhering to improper steps again
and again will further depreciate them. Hence, feedback help with the optimum utilization of resources.
Promotes job satisfaction: Employees today look for a job which gives them the satisfaction of owning new skills
every day. Constant feedback promotes the satisfaction derived from each task.
Promotes personal and professional growth: Constructive feedback usually focuses on positive criticism and helps
both the parties to see what they can change to improve their focus and results.
Helps in developing a healthy work environment: A healthy work environment is said to be developed when
everyone focuses on bringing the best to the table and when there’s no barrier to communication and feedback.

How To Give Constructive Feedback?

Every person is different and receives feedback in a different way. However, there’s a rule of thumb – a six-step
method – you can use to give constructive feedback.

1. Start with the constructive purpose of feedback: Start the communication with an indication of what you’d
like to talk about and why is it important. Don’t make them guess that it’s the feedback that you’re offering.
It’s good to start with sentences like –
“Something concerns me”
“I want to discuss something with you”
“I feel I need to let you know.”

2. Include all the details of what you’ve observed: Try not to be vague when giving constructive feedback.
Phrases like “you shout too much”, “You are very aggressive”, etc. don’t work well usually. Describe specific
actions and behaviour you noticed about the other person.
A good example would be “Yesterday when your subordinate came by your cabin to get some documents signed,
you tossed them all over”.

3. Describe your reactions: Describe the consequences of the person’s behaviour and how you feel about it.
Focus mainly on your findings and observations and try not to assume what others must have felt. When you
tell them about the consequences of the observed behavior, the other person can better appreciate your
feedback.
For example: “The subordinate went to the restroom and cried for hours. I think you were a bit too harsh.”

4. Give them a chance to speak: Being silent and listening to the other person’s point of view is also a part of
the constructive feedback process. Make them prove their point. If they don’t respond themselves, you can
ask an open-ended question like-
“What do you think?”
“What are your thoughts?”

5. Offer specific suggestions: Try offering the other person suggestions based on your observation and their
response. But make sure those suggestions are feasible and practical. Using examples as suggestions work
very well.
However, if your feedback was a neutral one, you can omit this part or just give them ideas to help them. Just try not
to sound as if you’re imposing them on the other person. Examples and ideas like these are considered good –
“I usually follow up with my subordinates every morning to make sure things are going as they should be. If they
aren’t, we try to find a solution together. Maybe you can try holding a daily morning meeting as well?”
“Why don’t you assign someone else who’s good with accounting to help your subordinate? Maybe that’ll help.”
 6. End with summarizing and offering your support: End with summarizing the positives and the main action
points and offering your help; something like this –
“Well, make sure you work on talking to your team about the morning meeting. Let me know if you need any help in
getting the conference room for the same.”
Constructive Feedback Tips
Language plays a special role when it comes to giving feedback. Often, individuals in authority tend to use terms that
suppress reasoning.

Let us look at a few ways by which one can give constructive feedback.

Feedback Should Be Precise and Specific

Crowding feedback by hurling some unnecessary lashes does not work in anyone’s favor.

Make sure to provide precise feedback while simultaneously adding all the necessary information in it.

For example: If a specific policy implemented by the organization interferes with labor welfare, then the leader of
the pack must talk about the ways in which they will suffer. This information should not include a rhetorical
discussion on co-existence and welfare for all.

Don’t Go Personal:
Individuals in authority often go personal without any requirement to do so. Such behavior puts their entire
reputation at stake.

For example: If an employee fails to show up early, then employers should pass feedback regarding the problem
rather than talking about their lousy behavior.

Stray Away from Using Third-Party Sources

Giving feedback via WhatsApp or email might be less time consuming, but one cannot deny the high chances of
misinterpretation often noticed on these platforms.

For example –

Mr. Cole: Hey Chris, I don’t think we can send you to HQ tomorrow. The presentation isn’t good yet.

In this text, it is not clear as to whether if Chris is a bad worker or Mr. Cole just want to add something more to the
presentation.

Timing Is the Key

No matter how good feedback is, bad timing is bad timing, especially when the person of interest is going through a
tough period.

For example, if you are aware of an employee suffering from major family issues, it is better to approach them after
some time.

A Feedback Sandwich Does Not Work

This is a technique often used by people to make their criticisms much more digestible. This technique involves
layering a harsh criticism in between two compliments. This method completely dilutes the entire motive of the
feedback.

For example,
Mr. Cole: Chris, you’re really good at handling stressful situations but try to be on time.

This makes it more of an appreciation rather than giving feedback on punctuality.

Focus More on The Intricacies

Be specific when it comes to constructive feedback. Just telling the other person if he’s good or bad isn’t constructive
feedback. It’s when specifics are included to support the judgement.

For example, ‘You have good presentation skills’ isn’t constructive feedback. ‘I like the way you use animations and
videos in your presentation to make it more interesting’ is one though.

Final word
Giving feedback requires intense research and analysis of the subject’s behavior. Also, people should try and get into
the other person’s shoes to understand situations better. In organizations, the hierarchy might be a concern for
feedback givers but one should certainly supersede such obstructions in order to have an honest communication
cycle.