How do I give useful feedback to a colleague at work?

If you own a business, unlike every other job you will ever hold, you are asked for your opinion on other people’s work. You’re asked to approve and edit work all the time.

Most people are really bad at giving feedback. You probably are, too.

So: this is feedback on giving feedback. If you give feedback well it will make you a much better colleague and your job will be way more fun. It will make the people around you better and it will preserve my sanity. Here are simple ideas that are hard to put into practice.

Analysis Is Valuable, Opinion Isn’t

First and foremost, here’s rule one: Your personal opinion is irrelevant. No one, and this should be perfectly obvious, no one needs to hear your personal, subjective, uninformed feelings about it.

Whether you like it or how it makes you feel or whether you’d buy it is of no interest to anyone. You’re not the target market, you’re not the target customer, you’re not the research panel.

What people want to hear is not your opinion, what they want to hear is analysis. Useful remarks cite data or previous work/research or they offer a test of the idea. For instance, on a pricing question: “All of the big hits in the past had been priced under $30 so I think $31 is risky.” Or, “Here’s a link to the spreadsheet from last year’s market study.” Or even, “Can we test the font?” Analysis is valuable, opinion isn’t.

Yeah yeah I know, offering analysis is harder than opinion, because it exposes you to argument. Nobody can argue with taste, but everyone can argue with dumb insights. So give them, and try not to flinch when your analysis gets torn apart.

Match Your Comment to the Moment

Here’s the second rule: match your comment to the moment.

If it’s a first draft, nobody needs your copyediting. “Hey, you spelled ‘alot’ wrong” when it’s going to the chairman next feels like a contribution. It isn’t, copyedit it once, when it’s a final and a pro should do it. You’re being asked for feedback because the thing needs work, so give the thing the comment that will make the most difference, not the first or the easiest thing that occurs to you.

The later the call, the worse it is. Don’t wait till the last minute to make objections. At the last minute, everybody’s engaged, deals are closed, time and budgets have been budgeted. The night before the groundbreaking is not the time to suggest the fully planned Hoboken factory be moved to Secaucus. This is bad, very bad, very very very bad. So raise objections, but only early.

Being Nice

Rule three: say what you like about the proposal.

A lot of people miss the opportunity to get their opinions used by NOT praising something. They just dive right in to the biggest issue. By saying “I love the way this is intended to raise our quality ratings” you align yourself with the maker. Flattering the creator isn’t just brownnosing, it aligns you to the creator so the creator is more likely to use the critique, and makes you see the creators goals, which will help you give better analysis.

So you said “I love the way this is intended to raise our quality ratings.” Then you can go on to say “Do we really need the new staff? Wouldn’t this report for senior management be better if it led with its goals?”

What’s the reward for being nice? People come back for your ideas. If you don’t say anything nice, the writer hears you said “This stinks, so don’t use it.” Being nice is fun. Try it.

And finally here’s rule four, the last rule: give feedback.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t before, or your analysis is weak, or you’re junior. You could change the direction of the thing. You’re smart, what you have to say matters. So give it.