The best leaders treat feedback as a strategic tool for growth for their employees, themselves and the organization. Here’s how to deliver tough feedback in a way that drives real improvement.
Giving feedback comes with the job of being a manager. It’s essential for keeping your team performing at its best—but let’s be honest, it’s not always fun. And when done poorly, it can do more harm than good.
Over a third of managers admit they’re uncomfortable giving direct feedback if they expect a negative reaction. But avoiding tough conversations doesn’t help anyone. The reality? Employees crave meaningful feedback—when they get it regularly, they report feeling far more engaged at work. So, the best leaders treat feedback as a strategic tool for growth—not just for their employees, but for themselves and the organization. Here’s how to deliver tough feedback in a way that drives real improvement.
Don’t Wait For A Performance Review
It’s tempting to put off tough conversations, telling yourself you’ll address the issue in the next performance review. But waiting only lets problems fester, making them harder to fix. Feedback is most effective when it’s fresh—giving your employee the chance to course-correct early and improve before the issue escalates.
And most employees expect it more often; 60% want feedback on a daily or weekly basis—a figure that jumps to 72% for those under 30. Make feedback a habit, not a once-a-year event. That way, performance reviews become a checkpoint on progress, not the first time someone hears about a problem.
Be Quick And Direct
Just get the negative feedback over with—skip the compliment sandwich. The moment you asked to chat, your employee likely felt anxious, especially in this season of mass layoffs and federal hiring freezes. And the truth is, both giving and receiving feedback at work can be equally uncomfortable. Too often, managers soften the message with vague, polite statements that offer little real direction. But waiting for a formal meeting—or dragging out the suspense—only makes it worse. Be clear, be direct and get to the point.
Deliver Feedback In Person
Don’t hide behind Slack, Teams or email when delivering constructive feedback. A lot gets lost in written communication—without tone or body language, messages can come across as harsher than intended, and people tend to overread negative intent. Younger employees, in particular, are more likely to misinterpret positive messages as negative, even when the sender gets the tone right. Don’t leave room for misinterpretation—have the conversation in person. And now that return-to-office mandates are back in full swing, there’s even less excuse not to.
Don’t Police Personality Traits
As a manager, your job is to evaluate performance, not personality. It’s tempting to critique the way someone carries themselves at work, but that’s not productive feedback—it’s personal judgment. Telling an employee they’re “too friendly” or “too silly” doesn’t provide a clear path for improvement; it critiques who they are rather than what they do. Instead, focus on specific, quantifiable observations tied to their work, regardless of their background or level within the company.
Make Sure Your Feedback Is Data-Driven
Back up your feedback with specific examples of repeated habits or patterns in your employee’s work. Vague critiques like, “You need to be more detail-oriented” don’t give employees a clear sense of what needs to change. Instead, try something like, “In your last two reports, there were multiple calculation errors that impacted our client recommendations. Let’s go over ways to build in an extra layer of review.” Data-driven feedback eliminates guesswork, making it easier for employees to understand the issue and take action quickly.
Work With Your Employees To Find Solutions
Feedback shouldn’t feel like a battle between you and your employee. But with a clear power dynamic at play, it’s easy for it to come across that way. Half of U.S. workers say workplace power dynamics significantly shape how they behave and make decisions. From the start, make it clear you’re on the same team—working together to solve the problem, not working against each other. Offer clear paths forward, provide extra support and ask how you can best help them improve.
Mastering feedback isn’t easy. But acknowledging the discomfort upfront helps set the tone. That makes you human—and so do these strategies, designed to make giving negative feedback a little less painful.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
