3 Tips for New Managers to Provide In-the-Moment-Feedback

    

Every new manager dreads it - Giving feedback in the moment.

It’s a difficult skill for new managers to develop and even experienced managers with years and years of practice become uncomfortable and awkward when the moment to give feedback in the flow offeedbak-in-themoment work presents itself.

It’s an even more difficult skill to develop in 2024 due in part to the post-pandemic hybrid workforce where some people work in a traditional office environment and others work remotely. In some cases, the new manager has never even met their direct reports in person, which adds another layer of complexity!

With so much volatility and so much change, what is a new manager to do in terms of providing feedback in the moment.

I recently created a portfolio of scenarios for a custom coaching and feedback simulation for one of our high-tech industry clients. The scenarios were based on research and real-life experiences from leaders around the world to provide a diversity of perspectives.

Here are 3 useful tips for managers to use when trying to provide in-the-moment feedback:

Be Specific and Unemotional

For new managers giving in-the-moment feedback, it is critical to be both specific and unemotional at the same time. In the feedback conversation, focus on specific observed behaviors or outcomes that you have noted and documented to avoid any ambiguity, rather than generalities. This helps the person receiving the feedback understand exactly what happened and what they need to they need to improve or continue doing.

For example, instead of saying, "Great job on that project," say, "I noticed how you handled the customer’s obviously misguided changes to the project calmly and offered a clear solution to what could have turned into an ugly mess. That was really well done and thank you."

Use a Positive Growth Mindset Approach

In the moment feedback should be framed in a way that encourages a growth mindset, not a fixed discouragement mindset. By definition, a growth mindset in providing feedback is the belief that a person's abilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. People with a growth mindset view their capabilities and talents as something that can grow and expand over time.

As a new manager, start with positive observations and follow up with areas for improvement. This makes the conversation feel more balanced.

For example, “You did a great job with the summary report, and I think adding more data to support your key points could make the report even stronger.”

Be Timely and be a Human

As a new manager, you want to provide feedback as soon as possible after the event to make it more relevant and impactful. At the same time, you want to ensure that the timing is appropriate, respectful, and humane.

For example, avoid giving feedback in public if it could embarrass the person, or during a moment of high stress and emotion. “Now that things have calmed down a little, it was obvious in retrospect that everyone was emotional about the software platform failure at the customer site. I think you could have prepared the customer better for the possibility that the first time out it wouldn’t work, and you did a nice job of recovering and keeping your cool under all that stress.

In summary, providing in-the-moment feedback is one of the most important parts of being a new leader. These tips can give you the confidence and tools to feel more comfortable, practice, and learn how to be more effective.

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Robert Brodo

About The Author

Robert Brodo is co-founder of Advantexe. He has more than 20 years of training and business simulation experience.