Giving feedback is an important skill for anyone who wants to excel in the
workplace.
Whether you're a manager giving constructive criticism or a coworker
offering feedback on a project,
communicating effectively can help you and your team achieve better results.
However, when you give feedback in English,
it can be difficult to find the right words and the right tone to
give that feedback in a professional setting. Moreover,
there are cultural differences to consider. For example,
you might worry that giving critical feedback in English is impolite,
so as a result you avoid encouraging others to make improvements
or perhaps you feel misunderstood. You give feedback at work to be helpful,
and yet others interpret that feedback as being too harsh. Truthfully,
giving feedback in any language is tricky,
but with a little practice and the right strategies,
you can provide feedback that is clear, respectful, and helpful.
In this competent English lesson today,
you're going to learn how to give feedback in English with the right strategies
and phrases that will lead to success.
But first, if you don't already know,
I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
Everything I do here is designed to help you get the confidence you want for
your life and work in English.
One way I do that is with my weekly Confident English lessons where I share my
top fluency and confidence building strategies, targeted vocabulary lessons,
and training on how to enhance your professional communication skills in English
just like in this lesson today. So while you're here,
make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English Channel so you never miss
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Let's start with a clear understanding of what it means to give constructive
feedback. In English.
Constructive or critical feedback is a form of negative
feedback that focuses on highlighting areas for improvement in a
positive manner, and the goal is to provide clear,
actionable and objective feedback that benefits an individual.
With that in mind,
let's take a look at what constructive feedback is and isn't
for English speakers.
Constructive feedback isn't vague or unspecific.
It is not public.
It's neither hypercritical rude or impolite,
and it's not a personal attack. Instead,
constructive feedback is specific and actionable.
It's discussed privately and focuses on an area for
improvement.
It's also focused on establishing mutual interest and trust
to follow those guidelines.
Many English speaking places such as the United States and Canada use something
called the sandwich method to offer constructive feedback.
What that means is we start our feedback by acknowledging
something good or appreciating someone's efforts.
Then we highlight an area for improvement,
typically using indirect language and we finish
with another positive acknowledgement. Generally speaking,
for English speakers, constructive or critical feedback,
again is a form of negative communication,
so we use this sandwich method to soften the harshness and
reduce any potential for friction.
Let me give you an example of what this might sound like.
Imagine you're providing feedback to a graphic designer who has just finished a
logo in offering feedback with the sandwich method.
It might sound like this,
I like the color palette and the minimal style to sharpen the design.
I think we should limit the palette to two colors and readjust the layout
for balance. Otherwise,
I like the direction you're going in and I can't wait to see the final results.
Did you notice that positive statement followed by an area
for improvement and then another positive statement?
That's a perfect example of the sandwich method. Now,
here's the problem.
This method can be particularly confusing to individuals who
are more accustomed to direct obvious, clear feedback.
In fact,
those positive messages can hide the real feedback
as a result.
The takeaway of that conversation might be that everything's fine and there's no
real need to make changes,
but the truth is there is a real need to make changes,
but it was stated indirectly in the middle of those two positive statements.
Now, for other individuals,
this particular style of critical feedback can also be too direct
and discouraging. For example,
some language backgrounds prioritize providing feedback in an
implied manner and someone is supposed to read between the lines
to understand what needs to be improved,
so how can you provide constructive feedback in a helpful, respectful,
meaningful way using this sandwich method?
Whether you're in an English speaking workplace or an international environment,
it may not be possible to adapt your communication style to every
culture within your workplace,
but it is possible to adapt this particular style or this method
in a culturally sensitive manner. To do this,
there are a few things to keep in mind when providing constructive feedback.
We should approach it as an open dialogue in a safe space,
be mindful of our tone, soften our words,
and avoid imperatives, and lastly,
end on a positive or encouraging note. To do that,
I want to review four specific strategies and the phrases you need in
English to successfully give critical or constructive feedback.
Strategy Number one, establish a safe place.
Feedback will never be well received. If a listener feels attacked,
blindsided, or publicly humiliated,
to be blindsided is to be unpleasantly surprised To
avoid that situation,
you can instead schedule a meeting ahead of time and provide a goal
oriented agenda. For example, in setting up a meeting with an individual,
you might say that you're planning to discuss next steps,
review the past few months and discuss areas for improvement,
and finally establish a success path going forward.
Then once you're ready to have that discussion,
you can begin the meeting by using a phrase that gets everyone on the
same page, creating a safe environment.
Here are a few example phrases you can use to help you do that. Number one,
in our discussion today,
I want to make sure we all find opportunities to thrive and be successful
in our roles. A second option,
my goal today is to help you feel confident in your skills. Number three,
I want to see you perform this task successfully and I'm here to support your
growth. And finally, we're here to find solutions together,
and I want to hear your thoughts.
Let's take a look at how we might use one of those phrases.
In a real life example,
imagine you have a coworker who struggles to ask for help when she needs
it,
and perhaps this is a result of a previous employer who created a work
environment in which asking for help was viewed as a weakness
prior to giving critical or constructive feedback.
You might reassure your coworker by starting with,
our goal today is to create a success path for you.
I want you to thrive in your role here and I'm here to support your growth.
This second strategy for successfully giving feedback in English is to be
mindful of your tone.
What this means is to use a neutral or unemotional calm
tone of voice while sharing your thoughts. Remember,
your goal in giving critical feedback is to reassure someone that you're
there to help them improve in a specific area of growth,
performance or skill.
An accusatory tone will likely be counterproductive and create
friction or tension.
One way to help you do this is to avoid using the word you when
pointing out opportunities for improvement. Again,
we keep the tone of our voice calm, unemotional and neutral,
and then we focus on the specific problem or area that needs
to be addressed. Let me give you an example.
Imagine you have a team worker who struggles with handling upset
customers. An accusatory statement would be,
I see you are having some difficulty handling upset customers.
A more appropriate statement in that situation would be,
I see that handling upset customers is a challenge.
Do you notice I've removed the word you from that statement?
There's no blame or accusation.
A third strategy you can use to give helpful meaningful feedback
is to soften your words and avoid imperatives.
To illustrate this, let me start with an example.
Perhaps in your team environment,
you expect your team members to regularly give progress updates.
That allows everyone on the team to know what's happening, who's doing what,
and where are we in terms of reaching our milestones or deadlines?
And perhaps you have one new coworker who isn't communicating that
progress in her old work environment.
She may not have been expected to provide these regular progress updates and
instead was only expected to let others know when something had been completed.
In this situation,
you may need to communicate that this approach isn't helpful for the team,
and in doing so,
you could say you must give a weekly progress update to the team.
By not doing that, you disrupt the workflow.
Do you notice the words must you and disrupt?
It's a very demanding and negative statement,
and for many individuals that kind of feedback,
that strongly worded statement,
can disrupt harmony on a team.
A better way to offer that same feedback is to remove the imperative
statements and soften the words. Here's how that might sound.
As a team,
we work best when we know how everyone is doing and where they are in
their progress going forward.
Please share a weekly update so we can all be on the same page.
And finally, strategy number four end. On a high note, however,
we're feeling at the end of a conversation,
we typically carry those emotions forward into the rest of our day and all
the other encounters we have with others. As a result,
when providing constructive feedback,
it's important to reassure others that they're safe, supported, heard,
and seen by you, and to provide that reassurance,
you can reiterate that they're doing well and you're looking forward to them
making those improvements that you've provided in your feedback.
Let me illustrate how you might do this with an example.
Imagine a newly promoted team member sent the wrong marketing
materials to a client. Of course,
you need to prevent that from happening again,
and this means you need to provide some constructive feedback to that
individual. In doing so,
you could use all the strategies we've learned today and and on a high note,
here's what that might sound like.
I appreciate that you were quick to communicate with both clients and team
members in this situation.
I understand this resulted from a misunderstanding in the instructions,
and I want to ensure we work together to prevent this from happening again.
To that end,
I've created a short standard operating procedure for you to review.
I expect this SOP to be followed prior to sending out any future
communication to clients.
Please take some time to review it and let me know if you have any questions.
I have every confidence that you're going to do well in this role,
and I'm here to support your growth along the way. With these four strategies,
you can successfully give constructive feedback in English that is
meaningful, respectful, and helpful.
I also want to remind you that it can take a little time to find the
communication style that works for you and your team.
I encourage you to try these strategies and perhaps even adopt a
hybrid style of this approach.
To help you do that and to help you gain a deeper understanding of what your
team needs, here are some considerations or recommendations.
Take time to do some research on the cultural codes represented among your
team.
Have an open discussion among your team members or ask them to contribute their
ideas anonymously. And finally,
you can also speak to a mentor or professional who also works in a
cross-cultural environment. To finish today,
I want to encourage you to practice what you've learned.
I'm going to present a scenario to you and I want you to reflect on this
scenario and then try to offer some constructive feedback using the
strategies and phrases you've learned in this lesson today. As always,
you can share your example with me in the comments below.
Here's the scenario I want you to consider.
A team member missed some important deadlines and did not communicate that
they were struggling with their workload until the very last minute.
This not only disrupted your team's workflow,
but it also disrupted your ability to complete a project on time.
And of course, this means you need to offer some constructive feedback,
but keep in mind this individual comes from a workplace culture
in which asking for help is viewed as a sign of weakness.
How would you use what you've learned here today to provide helpful,
meaningful feedback to that individual? Again,
share your example with me in the comments below.
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Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time.