Vague feedback holds us back, specifically women. What we all can do.
If leaders remain vague in our communication, the natural consequence is confusion, unnecessary additional time spent and frustration. Furthermore, dependency increases and the performance decreases. This is far from enabling employees to do great work. Vagueness also creates a chain reaction. That is, when a leader communicates in a vague way and an employee gives in, passing the vague information to other colleagues involved in the process.
Further, providing vague feedback in the context of appraisal interviews hurts female employees in particular. According to a research conducted by Harvard Business Review, women are systematically less likely to receive specific feedback. Both when receiving praise as well when it is regarding their professional development. Feedback can range from generic assessments such as “You had a great year!” to assessing their communication style as in “your communication style is too aggressive.” Men on the other hand are likely to receive both a clearer picture in how they are doing and a more specific guidance regarding the next steps in their career. Also, men are far less assessed by their communication style. Rather, the feedback focuses on improving specific technicals skills.
#1 What can leaders do?
Provide a clear direction. Providing a clear direction does not mean to develop a presentation and send it to the team, or present it in a monologue. It’s about having an exchange and giving the team the necessary time to understand it and reflect on it, and provide the room to ask questions. Because the direction might be clear to you, but not necessarily to others. And without a common understanding, there is no direction but constant confusion. Reflecting on the direction together as a group is also a great opportunity since often valid points come up one didn’t just think of.
Provide timely and direct feedback in the daily business. Regarding giving feedback in the operative business, it is crucial to give feedback in a timely manner so your team experiences less friction, confusion and interruptions. Also, be clear with your team which decisions need your final call and which don’t.
Ensure to give specific feedback to everyone. Reflect on how you give feedback in general. Do you give rather vague or specific feedback or do you give specific feedback only to certain employees, deliberately or unknowingly? In case you provide rather vague feedback in general, what do you think is the reason for that? Vague feedback can occur when for instance certain aspects aren’t clear to you as a leader as well and you choose to give vague feedback in return rather than being straightforward about it. Vague feedback can also occur when we intend not to hurt employees when it comes to assessments and when we as leaders feel uncomfortable giving certain feedback, though being clear and honest would help employees the most.
Reconsider providing annual reviews only. Annual appraisal interviews have the following disadvantage: The next one seems so far away to both leaders and employees and when it takes place, preparations were done last minute and the feedback employees receive are those they wished to receive in a timely manner in order to counteract. Another disadvantage of an annual review is that we tend to not crack our minds about how we will be doing in the first months after the annual review, believing we have time to work on the defined measures. Annual reviews can indeed serve as a milestone meeting, however on-the-job feedback and timely feedback as well as quarterly or half-year reviews are extremely beneficial to accompany employees during their development journey.
#2 What employees can do:
Holding yourself accountable to get specific feedback in the daily business. As an employee, also focus on what is within your control. What can you do? Instead of surrendering to vagueness and waiting for an invitation to clarify, communicate proactively what is not clear to you. Move away from wondering how this might come across to others to focusing on the benefits of asking questions. Therefore, whenever something is not clear to you, dare to ask.
Holding yourself accountable to get specific feedback in the context of appraisal interviews. Hold yourself accountable to get the information you need also in the context of appraisal interviews. You will do yourself no favour in accepting vagueness and move on (again) with no clear direction. Rather, embrace the discomfort and ask the questions which are necessary in order to excel. How are you doing specifically in certain areas? What works well, what might need improvement? What are the next steps in your career and what does it mean for the following year in terms of measures and performance goals?