Engaging in the art of regular feedback

‘Your room is a pigsty!’ When I was a boy, this was often the ‘feedback’ from my mum. At other times, it was, ‘You’re a good boy for getting that for me’. Feedback was regular. I always knew where I was with her.

In business, we receive feedback less than we’d like. I’m not talking about the sit-down, constructive, 90-minute meeting … just the ‘Thanks for doing that well’, or ‘I’d prefer if you did it this way’.

According to PwC, nearly 60% of survey respondents reported they would like feedback on a weekly basis – a number that increased to 72% for employees under the age of 30. Plus, another study strongly has suggested there is a whopping 46% increase in performance when regular monthly feedback is received. So, giving feedback makes money and makes people happier.

The reality​

For many UK food production workers, the reality is that feedback is never given, or they are shouted at, or just told what to do. Imagine if you told someone what they did well, would they do more of it? Yes, of course they would.

That’s the principle behind the ‘Don’t Shout’ Campaign – a drive to equip all people managers to be able to give feedback in the moment, using a simple tool called SBI – Situation Behaviour and Impact. The piece of this that most people miss is the impact.

The impact ​

It’s the difference between ‘That was good’ and ‘That was good because our waste will reduce by half’. Telling people the impact, the ‘I’ of SBI, helps them to understand the why.

At MBM, we want to equip people managers, many of whom have just grown their people management skills. So head over to tinyurl.com/yy6n47tf and add your details.

We’ll soon be uploading many free resources – for example, one-minute videos of factory line managers giving feedback well – and not well. There will also be exercises, research and a handbook to complete and track your progress.