providing feedback

Providing Feedback

This stage involves providing relevant feedback on a coachee's performance. By providing feedback it allows coachee's to not only build on their good attributes but also allows them to see areas in which the need to improve on.

There are many things that you need to think about when you are giving feedback to coachees such as:

Preparing to give feedback

It can be difficult for coachees to act on what they do not want to hear so it crucial that as a coach you think and choose your words carefully. You must be honest and accurate when giving feedback and be motivating at the same time which is extremely difficult to do.

Listed below are a number of techniques in giving feedback:

• Do not use negative words

  When giving feedback try not to use negative words such as “weaknesses” because coachees will take the word the wrong way. Adopt to using words such as “areas for improvement”

• Be specific

  If you feel that in some areas a coachee's work is great do not just say that try to be more specific. For instance, you could say that “all of your colleagues feel that you write great reports.”

• Use evidence to back up your claims

  Try to use evidence when you are making claims about the coachee. For example, if you feel that they are lazy do not just say this, say that “you are recorded as being late three times in the last week.”

• Use facts instead of hearsay

  If someone feels that the coachee's presentation was not very good then say that and do not just say “your presentation was not very good.”

Choosing Respondents

If you and and your coachee decide to gather feedback from other people in the workplace then you need to choose numerous respondents to comment on your coachee's performance.

It is important that you discuss with your coachees who you are going to use as respondents. Together you must decide on the respondents. It is also essential that you use as many respondents as you can. A good idea would be to use about four to six respondents who are in close contact with the coachee.

This way you get a lot more feedback from different people and at different levels in the organisation. It might even be a good idea to speak with some customers just make sure the coachee is aware of this.

Gathering feedback

In order to gather relevant feedback from the respondents it is vital that you have a face to face discussion. However, if it is not physically possible to carry out the discussion face to face then over the telephone will also be suitable.

It is important that you contact the respondent and let them know when you will be having the conversation so that they have the time to gather their thoughts on the coachee.

When it comes to the actual discussion then there is step by step guide that you should follow so that you do not miss anything out:

• Introduce yourself

  Introduce yourself again and briefly explain the purpose and importance of attaining feedback.

• Ask whether the respondent would like to go on the record or not

  It is important to give respondents the opportunity to give feedback anonymously because this may encourage them to be completely honest. If this is the case then as a coach you must ensure that their identity is never given away to the coachee.

• Ask about strengths

  It is essential that you ask about the coachee's strengths first and ask the respondent to provide specific examples of their strengths.

• Ask about areas of improvement

  Again in this section you should ask for specific examples of areas that need improving.

• Ask for suggestions

  At the end of the discussion you should ask the respondent what they feel would help improve the coachee's performance at work. Make sure that when communicating these suggestions back to the coachee that you explain that the suggestions were made by the respondent and not you. As always thank the respondent for their time and comments.

It is then up to you to create a report on the discussions with the respondents. This may consist of a number of bullet points or just some written notes. Then you should give this feedback to the coachee to take away with them and analyse.

Giving positive and negative feedback

It is a good idea to not give all negative feedback and no positive feedback because this can be demoralising for the coachee. Remember everyone is good at something so try to balance positive and negative feedback.

Reactions to feedback

It is important to give your coachee time to absorb all of the feedback that you have given and think about things. You should then ask them questions such as “how do you fell about the feedback you have been given?, Has there been any comments that have shocked you?” By asking these questions you are trying to ascertain the coachee's feelings about the feedback. However, it is important to remember that if the feedback is very critical then the coachee might react in numerous ways:

• Coachees may become angry

  Some coachees may become extremely angry at the feedback and end up criticising you. As a coach, it is your responsibility to let the coachee get all of their feelings and anger out in the open and once they have calmed down you they will talk to you rationally.

• Coachees may become defensive

  Some coachees after hearing critical feedback tend to become very defensive and say things such as “it is not my fault” or “everyone else does it”. As a coach you should learn to ask questions such as “why do you think people have this perception of you?”

Altogether, you should try and encourage the coachee to think about the underlying meaning of the feedback and not the actual words themselves.

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