Submitted by sanders1745 on
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New to Manager/Career Tools casts, focusing on feedback casts right now to specifically improve this area. Today was day one, doing the suggestion of 5 pieces of feedback given/day. Day one: check!
After I give the feedback, do I document it? Perhaps I have not gotten to the correct cast, but how does feedback fit in with long term coaching. I want to make sure if I am in a situation where a direct is challenging if I told them something or not, I have documentation.
Thanks!
Susan
Nope
No need to document. The whole documentation thing related to feedback is a function of the wrong-headed practice of NOT giving feedback until it was necessitated by HR lawyers to prove the company had done due managerial diligence before firing someone.
There's no reason to link the two in a competent boss-subordinate relationship, but that assumption permeates the feedback and documentation debate.
if you note that you've given a couple of pieces of feedback to someone about related behaviors, you might write something brief down on a yellow sticky note to help you remember it. And...catch yourself here...I mean about good OR bad feedback. That way, you'll remember it at review time if it's noteworthy, or if you have to go to systemic feedback, you'll have a rough idea of what the pattern has been.
Relatedly, I've pulled out an O3 notebook and seen 2-3 notes stuck to it to remind me to give feedback about something. I don't see that as documenting, anymore than I see taking notes about my deliverables coming from a meeting as documenting.
We get this question often enough, I guess we need a cast!
Mark
you don't document breathing
Mark advises managers to use feedback as routinely as breathing. You don't document breathing. I mean, think of all the sticky notes!
Week 1 summary
Fantastic responses--thank you both. I fell off quite a bit towards the end of the week with my feedback giving. Listened to the cast again and am going to focus on positives only, still shooting for 5 each day. I now have it in my calendar to go do once I finish my email before the allotted time is up (30 min). If I don't have a piece of feedback ready, I am leaving the cube to go find one. Last action step--allowing myself to write it down if I need to. This will allow me to go through a check list of sorts (when you...? check? is that something one can do? check? etc).
putting it out to the forum will help keep me accountable!