Employee Feedback Examples: The Good And The Bad.

Employees want to be recognized, to be contributing members of a winning team. And on the other hand, managers want to be effective while building a great team culture that rewards individuals contributors. This is why feedback becomes such a powerful tool for both employees and managers.

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” — Ken Blanchard

The purpose of feedback is to reinforce positive behaviors that contribute to performance or eliminate negative behaviors that detract from performance. it’s natural to take it as a personal attack and shut yourself off as a result. Instead, try to look at the feedback as a learning opportunity and grow from it.

To be most effective, feedback should be tailored to the individual, well thought out and delivered close to the event. At the same time, it should be:

• Specific
• Frequent
• Sincere
• Timely
• Meaningful or behavioral
• Job related
• Something the person can change

Before I go through the employee feedback examples, let’s look at some important things to keep in mind when giving employee feedback.

Employee feedback examples

There are many flavors of feedback. Here is a list of some of the most common types, with good and bad sample word tracks for each.

Job performance feedback

Positive example

“Bill, you exceeded your production goal by 20% last week. Great job, that’s really going to help us meet our overall plant production and financial goals. How did you do it?”

Poor example

“Bill, I just noticed you exceeded your production goal last month. This month’s goal will be increased 20%”.

Behavioral feedback

Positive example

“Nancy, at the meeting this morning I noticed you getting defensive when your data was challenged during your presentation. When Amy asked a question about your calculations, you were short with her and told her she needs to trust that you know how to do your job”. When you responded to her that way, she shut down for the rest of the meeting and seemed angry. You really need her support, and I’m wondering if you’ll have it now.

Poor example

“Nancy, you snapped at Amy in last week’s meeting. You need to control your temper.”

Career feedback

Positive example

“Matt, I think you have leadership potential. You’ve demonstrated an ability to lead and motivate teams, you can deal with ambiguity, and you are a quick study. Is leadership something that you are interested in exploring?”

Poor example

“Matt, congratulations, I’m promoting you!”

Reputational feedback

Positive example

“Lisa, I’ve heard and noticed that our new employees have been coming to you for advice on how to succeed in our culture. You seem to be developing a reputation as someone that really understands how we do things around here. That’s great, thanks for helping them out, I really appreciate it. You’re a role model for our values, and I’m sure our newer employees value your advice.”

Poor example

“Lisa, you’re starting to develop a reputation as a complainer. Try to stay more positive.”

Feedback that came from others

Positive example

“Tom, I’ve gotten feedback from others in the department regarding you being overly critical to them about their work. While I’ve not directly seen you do this myself, I’m concerned that others have noticed, and it bothered them enough to come to me. Can you shed any light on this?”

Poor example

“Tom, Carly and Jeff have complained to me about your being too harsh with them. What’s going on with that? Is this true?”

Feedback about a suspected personal problem

Positive example

“Ann, I’ve noticed in the last two weeks you’ve not been yourself. You made two significant errors on your last two proposals, you missed an important deadline, and when we met yesterday, you didn’t seem to be paying attention to me. I had to repeat myself twice. I’m concerned — this isn’t like you at all. If there’s something going on in your life, I realize that may be private and none of my business, but I’m concerned that it’s impacting your job. Is there something going on?

Poor example

“Ann, are you and your husband having problems?”

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