Ever feel uncomfortable giving someone else suggestions for improvement? You don’t need to worry any longer. Harvard Business Review reveals that even though no one likes to give negative feedback everyone wants to hear it.
Picture: striatic
Here’s a graph of the results from a study HBR did asking 899 people how they felt about positive and negative feedback:
It’s stunning that the participants preferred negative feedback even more than positive feedback — and that the tendency to give positive feedback is so low.
Wanting negative feedback may be a sign that you’ve moved past the novice stage. The takeaway, if you’re a manager or possibly in any situation — give more feedback!
Your Employees Want the Negative Feedback You Hate to Give [Harvard Business Review]
Comments
3 responses to “Don’t Be Afraid To Give Negative Feedback, Because People Actually Want It”
If you like something (service, a product, etc.) tell the store manager, owner by email, phone, or in person. Or, if you have something negative to say about any of the above, let it be known to the above and/or in a product review blog. At least this way people can know the positive and negative side and reward (hopefully) an employee or do something to correct a negatively received action or improve on a faulty product. Apathy is not only about keeping the negative unsaid, but also not voicing the positive. BE MORE VOCAL.
I’d love to see this study conducted with some representation from younger age group than 28. The age<=25 employees I’ve attempted to give even the mildest feedback to have gone nuclear.
Hmm, I wouldn’t put too much stock into that if they only came to their conclusions through a survey.