Giving performance feedback is a part of every people leader’s job. And yet, in my work with these leaders and teams, I’ve found that they often have negative mental models of what a feedback conversation is supposed to look like. Those pre-conceived notions can act as a barrier to giving timely, helpful, and honest performance feedback. Part of my job as a coach and facilitator is to help challenge people’s mindsets about what makes giving feedback so hard.
Here are three of the most common pre-conceived notions I hear that contribute to feedback anxiety, and what to do about them.
