How to Share Feedback with Peers?

Every manager faces the challenge of improving employee performance and increasing organisational productivity. It’s important to ask: What can you do differently to boost employee engagement? Sure, the first step is to provide feedback on their performance, but as a manager, you can do so much more.

Even while it's reasonable to state that a regular feedback culture in a company is critical to its success, peer feedback can also have a considerable impact on organisational performance.

What is peer-to-peer feedback?

Peer feedback is a type of informal feedback that employees receive from their peers and can be used purely to improve performance. This comfort allows employees to help one another improve without allowing fear to creep in.

Peer-to-peer feedback, when done effectively, can contribute to a very healthy workforce. If you want to improve it, consider including peer-to-peer input in your performance evaluation process. 

Why? For starters, it gives someone with a different perspective the opportunity to provide input. Furthermore, increasing team members' awareness of their own strengths and shortcomings can aid in the establishment of a culture of understanding and a shared attitude of continual improvement.

Employee tips for more effective peer-to-peer feedback effective

1. Be prepared and determined

First of all, your feedback topic needs to have a link to an essential skill within the scope of the job responsibility. Because constructive criticism might be awkward at times, you should always come prepared with real-life examples and conversation points to focus on for both sides.  These tips can come in handy:

• It's usually preferable to be more detailed with your remarks than to be excessively vague. 
• Before you start talking, determine the purpose of the conversation and what you want to accomplish. You can ensure that the dialogue is as productive as possible if you know what you want to gain from the feedback.

 2. Start positive, stay positive

Remember to keep an optimistic attitude. When the person delivering the feedback has a pleasant attitude, people are more receptive to it. The idea is to solve a problem rather than cause another by insulting someone. 

A positive start will make anyone feel more at ease and confident. Even if it's followed by a flood of bitter negative feedback.

And remember- you should strive to make the feedback exchange procedure as pleasant as possible.

3. Share constructive feedback 

Make it clear to your coworker that your criticism comes from a point of empathy and a desire to assist them in improving their work performance. Start your peer feedback meeting by offering your constructive criticism before moving on. 

After you've finished with the positive input, point out areas where your coworker excels. If possible, attempt to balance the feedback with the strengths, or weight your conversation in favour of the strengths.

4. Use examples and facts 

Prepare ahead of time if you're in charge of delivering feedback to a coworker. Begin by defining the arguments you want to make and laying out how you intend to convey them. Talk about a specific trait or a specific fact. You don't want to make broad generalizations, but you should try to give examples and make suggestions for improving the subject at hand.

5. Be clear and specific

It's important that the feedback you give to your coworker is both specific and clear. After figuring out the behaviour or situation that needs to change, give your friend suggestions or tactics that they can use the next time they're in that situation. The more clear you are, the easier it is for the person you're talking to to understand your point of view and deal with it head on.

6. Empathise

When confronted with criticism, it's not uncommon for someone to feel embarrassed or uneasy. Let your colleague understand that even though this may be awkward, you're coming from a place of kindness and good will. Bear in mind, this is not about you. Using phrases such as "This is as difficult for me as it is for you" may not resonate and may obstruct the discourse. While empathy can support in a good discussion with your coworker and a great outcome, try to avoid saying these type of generic cliches. 

7. Be respectful and kind

Every communication in the workplace should be polite, but it's especially crucial for a sensitive conversation like this. This is not the time to make a personal attack or disrespect someone. 

Appreciate the individual's professional achievements and keep in mind that this is an opportunity for both of you to advance professionally. Before you give your feedback vocally or in writing, think about it. When you prepare notes ahead of time for an in-person meeting, you may guarantee that you use kind words and non-emotive terms when giving feedback.

 8. Don't be judgmental

When you're having a conversation with other people, you can share your own thoughts, but don't act like an authority figure or use judgmental language, either.

The first thing you can say is "I feel..." or "Something to think about for the next time..." This will make the communication seem like it's going to be easy.

People on your team will always be more open to what you say if you have a positive mindset when you talk to them.

"What if we tried this later?" instead of "That clearly didn't work, and your method should never be used again."

9. Don’t get personal

Think about who you're giving feedback to and always remember that your employees or other members of your team are people, too. Be aware that what you say can make them happy or sad, so don't make the problem about them.

Talking with someone should not make them feel as if they are being targeted by you, and you should not make them feel as though they are being attacked. Always give feedback about the problem, the project, or the work, not about the person.

Embrace feedback tools

It’s 2022! Traditional methods aren't the only way to get feedback from employees about their coworkers. There are other ways to do this, too. In today's world, people from all over the world work together, and they're more skilled at using social media and technology than ever before. 

Choose a tool or software that can make it easier for people to review each other. This can keep people involved in the review process while still getting useful information and evaluations from them. Sorwe makes the whole process easy because you and your team can give real-time feedback on everything from meetings to projects to performance.