Receivers are not simply passive absorbers of contents; they receive the content and respond to them. This reply of a receiver to sender’s message is called Feedback. Sometimes a feedback could be a non-verbal smiles, sighs etc. Sometimes it is oral, as when you react to a colleague’s suggestions with questions or comments. Feedback can also be written like- replying to an e-mail, etc.
Feedback is your audience’s response; it enables you to evaluate the effectiveness of your message. If your audience doesn’t understand what you intend, you can tell by the response and then refine the message accordingly.
Giving your audience a chance to provide feedback is crucial for preserving an open communication climate. The director must create an environment that encourages feedback. For instance after explaining the job to the subordinated he must ask them whether they have understood it or not. He should ask questions like” Do you understand ?”,” Do you have any doubts ?” etc. At the same time he must allow his subordinated to express their views also.
Feedback is essential in communication so as to know whether the recipient has understood the message in the same terms as intended by the sender and whether he agrees to that content or not.
There are lot of ways in which corporation takes feedback from their employees, such as: Employee surveys, memoes, emails, open-door policies, corporation news letter etc. Employees are not always willing to provide feedback. The organization has to work a lot to get the accurate feedback. The directors promote feedback by questioning specific questions, letting their employees to express general positions, etc. The organization should be receptive to their employee’s feedback.
No matter how hard it looks, life has something nice for you. Just wait patiently. – Dr Rajeev Gupta
A manager should ensure that a feedback should:
- Focus on a particular behaviour – It should be specific rather than being general.
- Impersonal – Feedback should be job related, the manager should not criticize anyone personally.
- Goal oriented – If we have something negative to say about the person, we should always direct it to the recipients goal.
- Well timed – Feedback is most effective when there is a short gap between the recipients behaviour and the receipt of that feedback.
- Use “I” statements – Manager should make use of statements with the words like “I”, “However” etc. For example instead of saying”You were absent from work yesterday”, manager should say”I was annoyes when you missed your work yesterday”.
- Ensure understanding – For feedback to be effective, the manager should make sure that the recipients understands the feedback properly.
- While giving negative feedback to the recipient, the manager should not mention the factors which are not in control of the recipient.