In traditional approaches to feedback, managers spend most of their time
focusing on what's not working well. Most of us realize if you constantly
criticize children they'll develop an inferiority complex. We don't stop to think the same is true for adults.
With
appreciative feedback the manager and the person whose behavior
is under review agree (1) what the behavior will look like when the individual is
performing at his or her best, and (2) what resources are needed to develop and reinforce
the new behavior.
Subsequent feedback is based on
what is going well: specific ways the individual is moving in the desired direction. And this means
any
incremental step! Appreciative feedback works because it takes you out of the rut of
noticing (and reinforcing) problems; instead, it calls out the best in people and accelerates the process of positive change.
(For more on this topic, read David
Cooperrider's Appreciative
Management and Leadership)
(For finetuning your feedback skills,
read Rubin & Campbell's The
ABC's of Effective Feedback)
Appreciative Feedback