Giving effective feedback is crucial for workplace growth, helping us understand our impact and improve. However, the thought of delivering feedback often triggers unease and fear. Our comprehensive online course, 'Giving Effective Feedback,' is expertly designed to help you overcome these anxieties and master the art of delivering clear, compassionate, and concise messages that foster development and drive positive change.

This essential professional skills course goes beyond common misconceptions that feedback is only for formal performance reviews or correcting issues. Instead, you'll learn that feedback, whether redirecting ineffective behaviours or reinforcing effective ones, is a powerful, respectful, and developmental tool for everyone, regardless of their role. At its core, feedback is specific, detailed information about a person's past behaviour or performance at work, given with an objective, well-intentioned perspective.

When delivered effectively, feedback is a 'gift that keeps on giving'. It directly contributes to:

• Enhanced Performance: Guiding individuals towards higher performance standards and preventing unintentional cessation of beneficial actions.
• Boosted Motivation: Reinforcing positive actions, making people feel appreciated and confident, and spurring improvement for poor performance.
• Heightened Engagement: Showing colleagues that their performance matters, increasing their likelihood to strive for success.
• Promoted Self-Awareness: Helping individuals learn about their strengths, weaknesses, and how their actions affect others.

Many avoid giving feedback due to fear of negative reactions or personal discomfort. This course directly addresses these fears by helping you identify their source and reframe negative assumptions. You'll learn to acknowledge discomfort, prioritise the other person's growth, and view feedback as a practice that becomes easier with regularity, preventing issues from escalating and making discussions less heavy.

Our 9-lesson course (graded on assessments) provides a step-by-step feedback process. You will learn to:

• Prepare Thoroughly: Plan what to say, how, and the desired outcome, especially for potentially contentious conversations.
• Arrange and Introduce Empathetically: Begin discussions without triggering anxiety, creating a comfortable environment for both you and the receiver.
• Describe Behaviour and Impact: Stick to specific, observable actions and clearly explain their direct consequences on you or others.
• Engage in Dialogue: Allow the receiver to process and share their perspective, gaining crucial insights and avoiding assumptions.
• Suggest Future Behaviours and Agree on Next Steps: Move the conversation forward positively by offering suggestions for improvement or continuation, and solidify concrete action plans.
• End with Gratitude: Express appreciation for their willingness to engage in the feedback conversation, creating positive closure.
• Craft Constructive Messages: Master techniques like being specific, direct, and quick (ideally 2-3 minutes), focusing on a person's behaviour rather than their character, and sticking solely to objective facts, while avoiding the ineffective 'sandwich technique'.
• Handle Difficult Reactions: Anticipate and manage common responses such as the silent treatment, defensiveness, tearful reactions, commitment-phobia, or anger, by understanding their underlying causes and applying empathetic strategies. This includes asking open-ended questions, taking a gentle approach, communicating support, encouraging openness, and maintaining a calm tone. You will also learn when to set boundaries and take a firmer approach.

By mastering these techniques, you can transform workplace communication and feedback conversations from intimidating encounters into powerful opportunities for employee development, performance enhancement, and fostering a culture of ongoing growth within your organisation. Enrol in 'Giving Effective Feedback' today to become a confident communicator, build stronger workplace relationships, and drive collective success.