How To Provide Feedback For Positive Results

Why is it that some staff are always happy and productive, yet others seem to count the seconds until they can leave work?

As a Hospitality Manager your role is to lead your team towards achieving your business goals by ensuring they are providing a consistent product and service in line with established business standards.

Part of leading a team’s performance is providing feedback in a way that achieves your desired outcome. In fact, it is perhaps the most crucial task a manager performs.

Yet many managers feel uncomfortable providing negative feedback. Concerned that it may cause conflict and have negative effects.

Whether you’re providing positive feedback to reinforce a desired behaviour, or negative feedback to change a behaviour, you need to be able to guide your team behaviour to achieve your goals.

If you want your feedback to have real impact, there is a straightforward, yet critical, concept you must follow. A simple method that gives amazing results.

The key is to base it on F.A.C.T.S…

With this simple system from Leadership Trainer P.W Irvine - you’ll be able to feel confident in providing feedback to your team.

When recognition is focused on F.A.C.T.S, it demonstrates that the feedback giver cares. It shows they really pay attention to the effort the feedback receiver puts in and they are able to articulate what effect their behaviour has.

The F.A.C.T.S System

Fair – Feedback must be just.

Neuroscience has proven that fairness activates reward centres of the brain, while unfairness illicits the same response as disgust. Fair feedback ensures people will listen to and trust you.

Accurate – Feedback must be based on specific facts, not your interpretation of them.

Do not infer what you think has happened or what you assume has occurred, for example by using statements such as ‘you are always late’. Instead, you should simply state the facts of the situation, for example by stating ‘you arrived at 8.15am this morning and 8.10am yesterday’. By doing this, you will be on safe ground, and people will be more likely to take on board what you say and respond appropriately.

If you are unsure of the facts, it is essential to ask questions to and clarify motives in order to better understand the cause of the situation or issue.

Consistent – Feedback must be applied evenly to all staff members.

When you deal with situations and behaviour in the same manner, regardless of who you are dealing with, your team will know what to expect from you and feel fairly treated.

Timely – Feedback must come sufficiently soon after the event.

When you provide feedback promptly it is more likely to resonate with the team member. It also contributes to consistency. If feedback is put off it tends to lose impact and meaning.

Sincere – Feedback must be genuine.

Don’t say things you don’t mean, or just for the sake of it. By describing what a team member did, and why it mattered, your team members are more likely to believe and take on board what you say.

The F.A.C.T.S System is just one of the feedback models taught by P.W Irvine at AVTES Hospitality Leadership Workshops.

If you’re interested in learning more about leadership training for your hospitality business or staff, why not check out our Leadership Training options.

Excerpts from:

Irvine P.W. The Hour guide to management, Melbourne 2022