In an organisation, especially in a performance-driven company, an effective way to change employee behaviour and improve work is through feedback – aka recognition.

But Dolphins will never dance by simply showering them in compliments. So too in the workplace, with actual humans, delivering feedback isn’t a sure way of improving results. There is effective feedback, and there is also ineffective feedback.

So, what kind of employee feedback can you give to boost employee engagement and performance? Today, we will look at the types of feedback that are mainly used in conversation and highlight the feedback type that induces meaningful change in the receiver. If you want to spread the organisational culture and feedback communication that you want to boost performance to your team, follow us closely!

4 types of interactive employee feedback

1. Meaningless feedback

Feedback that is (1) too vague, (2) not specific, and (3) has no purpose or next step is called meaningless feedback. Sample interaction:

Team Leader: (During the meeting) “Jerry, the project you submitted this time went well, I liked it.”

Jerry: “Oh… ! thank you.”

Team Leader: Okay, let’s move on to the next topic… Blah blah…

Jerry: (What…?) 🙄

This kind of feedback does not have a specific ‘why’ about what the other person said. It is often interpreted as ‘pointless words’ by the listener. Of course, the reaction to the feedback is also pretty uninspired – similar to leaving a thoughtless ‘like’ on social media.

In fact, many people in the organisation give and receive meaningless feedback. The problem is giving meaningless feedback and mistakenly thinking that you have given quality feedback. It’s accepting, “I’ve been praised like this, so I’m more motivated, so I can make great results, right?” Dolphins will never dance with nothing but compliments.

2. Corrective feedback

Corrective feedback can be taken as abusive feedback and should be done with caution.

This is feedback that turns a bad situation in the right direction. It is an assertive feedback that communicates the need for improvement and what needs to be changed when supportive feedback or guided questioning methods do not lead to the desired behaviour change.

Team Leader: The manager reviews the proposal submitted this time, and it starts with the planning idea.

How about attaching a visual to the intro to show the need for planning? This will increase the persuasiveness of the plan. Please refer to the example of a plan that has been passed in the past. 🧐

The key to corrective feedback is to focus on the other person’s behavior rather than emotions.

(1) explain a specific behavior → (2) explain the consequences of the behavior → (3) explain how you feel about the behavior → (4) explain why you feel that way → (5) explain what you need to change

3. Supportive feedback

Supportive feedback is useful for facilitating desired change while minimising conflict.

When you do a desired behaviour, it is feedback that you give to reinforce that behaviour. By explaining the other person’s actions, results, and feelings in detail, and praising them, you increase the frequency and intensity of your actions. In this case, it is very important to give timely employee feedback. If you omit feedback because you’re too busy or you don’t need it anymore, the other person may not repeat the action.

(1) explain a specific behavior → (2) explain the consequences of the behavior → (3) explain how you feel about the behavior → (4) explain why you feel that way

Parent: (When the child packs away toys in the room) Wow the room is really clean now that you have picked up the toys. Thank you so much for tidying up!

→ The point is to explain your actions, results, and feelings in detail → It gradually develops into an action to organise the entire room without saying anything.

The above procedure is similar to the feedback model used by Google, SBI. It is to capture the situation, describe the behavior, and then communicate the impact of the behavior in detail. Supportive feedback has in common with fact-based situations and actions, and conveying feelings (impacts) rather than instructions.

4. Abusive feedback

The person giving the abusive feedback often mistakes themselves as giving supportive feedback.

All feedback, except for 1 to 3 above, belongs here. It is to deliver emotional feedback without explaining specific situations and reasons. Such feedback only causes hurt and despair in the recipient. The problem is that the person who gave the abusive feedback mistakenly thought that he had provided supportive and corrective feedback.

Team Leader: Jerry, how did you even get hired with report writing like this? do it again right now!

Why is supportive feedback so powerful?

Supportive feedback has two main strengths. The first is the power of others to bring about change by themselves through learning. The second is to increase a sense of psychological safety.

Supportive feedback is not the same as unconditionally praising the other person for their performance. This kind of feedback only conveys happy feelings, because it has no purpose. Because it is abstract, it is difficult to expect results through feedback. On the other hand, supportive feedback clearly points out the other person’s behaviour and conveys the ‘why’ specifically. Through this, the focus is on suggesting a direction for repeating the same behaviour in the future.

How a trainer trains a seal to jump higher

1) Put a stick in front of the seal’s nose and praise it.

2) Put the stick in a higher position and praise the seal when it touches its nose.

3) Raise the stick higher and higher and repeat the compliment each time the seal jumps along.

In addition, supportive feedback encourages good performance instead of intellectual, while encouraging a sense of psychological safety in the organisation. While ‘concrete point’ creates conflicts and tensions in the work, supportive feedback resolves these conflicts and gives positive nudges to create better performance.