How I give formal written feedback

At least every year, colleagues express surprise and delight at how I give formal written feedback. That is, the kind of feedback that corporate employers request annually. I've meant to write down my process for over a decade; so, better late than never!

Formal written feedback has a few conflicting goals:

  1. Prompt (self-)reflection and conversations with our colleagues
  2. Find out how we're regarded by our manager and peers
  3. Help the company decide who to promote, keep, and let go

But, everywhere I've worked, goals 1 and 2 are stymied by goal 3. It's hard to be genuine when our bosses or human resources are eavesdropping! Is it surprising to hear that, too often, I've seen the most well-meaning of my colleagues write 250 words of filler; just enough to tick the “wrote feedback” box for the year?

Regardless of the status quo, I deeply believe these goals are all worthwhile.

Years ago, the first time a company gave me people to look after, I felt trapped between potentially being a manager from hell or wasting their time and my own. In desperation, I came up with a plan that worked so well that I've used it ever since, in both individual contributor and managerial roles.

  1. Of the intended recipient, I ask what they want “Is there anything in particular you'd like feedback on?”
  2. From that, I write my feedback, kindly and directly addressing their prompt with concrete examples
  3. I show what I’ve written “Here's what I got! [link to a doc]”
  4. I ask them to review it, looking for context and corrections “Am I missing or should I add something? Am I off-base? Anything I should remove? Anywhere I can be more clear?”
  5. I only share what we agree upon

In short, we have a conversation. We collaborate and arrive at a mutually satisfactory result, achieving goals 1 and 2. And goal 3 is still satisfied thanks to the written artifact.

I believe everyone should have a degree of control over their reputation. And I don't believe in saying anything about someone that I haven't already told them.

Thank you for reading this note. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, publicly or privately!

(🙏🏾 James Adams, Arvin Aminpour, Mike Bain, Marvin Charles, Phoebe Lew, and Valerio Pastro for their feedback on drafts of this!)