Business Changing

Profit and Growth Specialist

Giving tough feedback to an employee

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Giving tough feedback to an employee

Ever wondered why sometimes your feedback to one staff member can go amazingly whereas to another it falls like a lead balloon? I asked Relationship & Family Therapist Stephen Taylor from Relationship Matters International why some people struggle to take on feedback…

“Taking feedback requires two key premises: authentic humility, and trust of the person giving the feedback.

To be open to feedback, the person needs to understand that correction is not rejection, feedback is not a personal attack, and teachability is not control.

If you have an employee who struggles to take feedback well, they possibly don’t understand the above and they summon defence by default, not comprehending that no defence is required…”

So if you’re about to have a challenging conversation with someone, make this clear upfront to try to avoid them immediately becoming defensive, rather than taking your feedback on board.

How to approach challenging conversations is a topic we talk about a lot at Business Changing. See our framework HERE to help you the next time you have to have a challenging conversation with an employee.

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