Repetition, the key to management feedback

Everyone knows feedback matters. Far fewer managers feel comfortable giving it. That was the starting point for the management feedback workshops we ran with Galeries Lafayette: two hours to set out a method, then practise with a virtual counterpart.

The starting point: moderate confidence

Before the session, participants rated their confidence in giving feedback at around 3 out of 5 (3/5 for the first group, 3.2/5 for the second). Not a rejection of the exercise, but real hesitation: fear of phrasing it badly, of “beating around the bush”, of putting the other person on the defensive.

A simple method you can use straight away

The workshops rely on the FEEDA method: Facts, Effects, Emotion, Request, Action. The result: 100% of participants consider it immediately applicable in their day-to-day work.

What repetition changes

It's putting it into practice that makes the difference. Participants found the virtual counterpart credible and realistic. As one of them put it: “the AI responds very well and is strikingly realistic”. In the second group, everyone said they were ready to practise feedback more after the session.

The key takeaways they mention are very concrete:

• clearly setting out the consequences of a behaviour, not just the behaviour itself;
• the rule of three pieces of positive feedback for one corrective;
• the importance of thorough preparation before the conversation;
• paying attention to the other person's reactions.

What still needs improving

The feedback isn't unanimous on everything, and that's a good thing. Several participants asked for more scenarios per type of feedback, harder situations and a case of upward feedback, towards one's own manager. Two of the nine participants in the first group did not feel that the AI made it easier to accept mistakes than a conventional exchange. All useful leads for the next versions.

Confidence doesn't come from theory. It comes from the number of times you've already had the conversation.