Communication - Do you offer specific feedback?
Last updated by Seth Daily [SSW] about 1 month ago.See historyEvery day you will probably come across something that could be improved. If you're not making improvements, you're going backwards. But don't make suggestions or criticisms without being specific.
"Do you know our sales process is pretty bad, what are you going to do about it?"
Figure: Bad Example - Nonspecific criticism
When you find a problem, pinpoint it directly (and recommend a solution):
"The current sales process is pretty bad. It does not ensure that a prospect is followed up by a phone call within 7 days of an initial meeting. Please create a workflow in CRM, have it tested by the sales manager, and then we will email the sales team to inform them about the improvement."
Figure: Good Example - Offering criticism in this way ensures that something will happen to fix the problem
"Not done, please try again"
Figure: Bad Example - If they don't immediately know what to fix, this might end up in their "too hard" bucket and never get done
"Not done, you missed the second requirement"
The specific missed requirement lets them quickly fix the mistake
Of course, there are times that you can 'feel' that a problem exists, but you may not even be sure how are unable to pinpoint it or can't think of a good solution. In this instance you should speak to someone who you think may be able to identify a solution, come to an agreement, and then request that action be taken.
When criticism is generic, it is impossible to know what to fix.
It's alsoimportant to consider both your audience and the overall context.
- Internally, you might assess the work on a scale of 1 to 10 (without sharing the score).
- If the work rates a 9/10 or higher, feedback is generally unnecessary. Moving from a 9/10 to a 10/10 often requires incremental feedback that can feel overly critical.
- While aiming for a 10/10 is ideal, it's often acceptable to settle for a 9/10 if the effort to achieve perfection isn't justified.
I hope people ask for a ‘Checked By’ when it is at least a 7/10. Then I hope the feedback gets it to a 9/10, if not a 10.
- Adam Cogan
