Giving and receiving feedback is not as easy as it may seem on the surface. Many people struggle with handling constructive criticism, which leads to uncomfortable situations.

Despite initial problems, giving and receiving feedback is essential. Without receiving useful information about a project you have been working on, you won’t know if you are working in the right direction. Aside from that, giving feedback is equally important to ensure that the work is done the way you want it and to maintain peer relationships in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence is essential to give practical and constructive feedback; it also plays a vital role in accepting and using that valuable information effectively.

 

How To Give And Receive Feedback

Here are some ways you can try and use emotional intelligence when giving and receiving feedback.

 

Take Your Time

One of the most important things to remember when giving feedback is to keep calm and take time to deliver it. If you have something to say, it isn’t essential for you to rush into it right away. You must take your time with the constructive criticism you are offering and take a step back first.

Doing so will help you analyze your situation. Moreover, it will also help you come up with accurate feedback that is based on hard facts.

Understand what is happening around you and channel all your emotions so that you can give feedback that will be fruitful for others and won’t hurt their feelings.

 

Practice Giving Feedback

When imparting constructive advice, it is essential to ensure you deliver it the best way possible. This is why it is best to practice before you give your feedback. Introduce a practice of regularly providing feedback to your employees.

Establishing a culture where you constantly provide constructive criticism to those around you can be difficult. This is why you need to make it a part of the learning process and ensure that your employees are willing to accept and implement the feedback in their daily lives.

Start giving feedback in different scenarios, so your team begins to expect it, accept it and implement it.

 

Be Specific

When giving feedback, you need to keep in mind that the person on the other end expects you to be as specific as you possibly can. This is because if you are pointing out something wrong, you must have an explicit description of what you think is wrong with it.

This is why, when you assess a situation, ensure that you come up with specific advice. Not only will this help the other person to correct their ways, but they will also know precisely what needs to be done.

So when giving feedback, try to hit the nail on the head and avoid going in circles, so that there is clarity on both ends.

 

Have Acceptance

It isn’t easy to accept your mistakes, which is why many people aren’t very accepting of the feedback they receive and don’t implement it in their work. They may even view it as a rejection of their efforts. This is where most problems arise; if you are emotionally intelligent, you will be aware that it is only human to make mistakes.

Moreover, you need to have the acceptance that others may see things differently, and you may need to appeal to their perspective.

When you can accept feedback, it will become easier for you to understand and then incorporate it.

 

Learn From Feedback

Once you accept constructive criticism, you can learn a lot from it. Learning from your mistakes is very important; feedback helps you understand where you went wrong and how you can fix it.

Try to understand all the places where you made mistakes and how you can avoid such mistakes in the future. Feedback is the best way for you to maximize your learning.

Using emotional intelligence, you can improve how you receive and give feedback. Just be sure to keep an open mindset, which will help you set things straight without any confusion.

 

p.s. – Want to get a handle on your reactions? Book a free trial session and we’ll see if we’re a fit for working together.
Paul Strobl, MBA, CPC

Paul Strobl, MBA, CPC

Owner of Confide Coaching, LLC

Paul is a Master Life Coach for GenX and GenY executives and business owners. Originally from Houston, Texas, he has been location independent for most of his adult life. He currently resides in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria near the Greek border with his brilliant wife, 13-year-old stepson (officially adopted in 2021!) and a Posavac Hound rescue.