You are motivated to give more feedback to help your colleagues grow, but you often find yourself not doing it. There seems to be visible barriers that stops you giving feedback. Understand what they are, so you can break through and start growing with the people you value. Find out more about Impraise: https://www.impraise.com/#discover-impraise

1. How To Break Down Barriers To Give More Feedback At Work
blog.impraise.com/how­to­break­down­barriers­to­give­more­feedback­at­work/
You are motivated to give more feedback to help your colleagues grow, but you often find
yourself not doing it. There seem to be invisible barriers that stop you from sharing your
opinions. You might be aware of the reasons but not quite sure what the solution is.
If this sounds like the case to you, you have come to the right place. In this blog post, I will

2. investigate the common feedback stoppers. Then there will be tips to break down barriers
and start giving more feedback.
Feedback Stoppers: What are they?
There are external and internal factors that affect your feedback giving behavior. The former
lies in your environment: the company where you work and the group you belong to. The latter
comes from within yourself, namely your personality traits and your skills.
The lack of a feedback culture
Let me draw up a few scenarios for you. Your direct manager does not give feedback to you.
The top managers never officially encourage sharing feedback in your company. Your
colleagues hardly ask what you think about their work. Same goes with your direct reports.
If one or more of those apply to you, it is likely that your workplace lacks a strong feedback
culture. Even though you feel like giving feedback, you are not sure that it is an acceptable
and welcomed behavior. Your managers don’t give and support feedback. Your colleagues
don’t ask you for feedback. Why should you go out there and be the odd one out?
In the deeper level, it comes to your identity. Not acting in conformity with the rest of your
group risks exclusion or loss of connection. “Identity is very closely tied up to the groups we

3. belong to”, claimed Neal Ashkanasy, a professor of management at the University of
Queensland. You tend to avoid an act that might threaten your membership in your group.
Therefore, you don’t want to give feedback.
Here is the tip for you: Do it anyway. Give feedback to your colleagues and be a role model.
There will be no road until someone takes the first step. Why can’t it be you?
If your feedback is helpful, your colleagues will appreciate it. The if is the game­changer
here. When you want to be a role model, it is crucial to do things right. In the latter half of this
article, you can find a lot more information that helps improve your feedback giving skills.
Besides, you should communicate more with your colleagues to build a strong relationship
based on trust and respect. Speak openly and transparently about work related matters. It
also helps to do small talks about personal matters now and then. Ask questions to get to
know your colleagues personally.
When two communicate regularly, feedback is less likely to come across as intrusion. The risk
of connection loss is reduced, and your group membership remains intact.
Last but not least, you can call for changes. Bring up your need to receive feedback with
your team manager and HR Manager.
You don’t need to make a grand scheme. Simply lay out the benefits of sharing feedback.
Timely compliments boost team’s morale. Besides, corrective feedback addresses behaviors
that have negative impact on the team. It calls for awareness and improvement.

4. Think of initiating a small survey inside and outside your team so you can gather people’s
opinion whether they would like to receive more and better feedback. Show the results to your
manager or a trusted colleague in HR.
How your personality traits stop you from giving feedback
Your personal self stops you from giving feedback in a less obvious way. It is also more
difficult to change those inner factors. However, with a good understanding of your own self,
you can track down its impact on your willingness to give feedback. You then know which
areas to make changes on. Moreover, I have some tips to help you along the way.
Regarding personality traits, I use Introvert vs. Extrovert and Thinking vs. Feeling as
differentiating categories. They are used in the well­known Myer­Briggs Type Indicator tool for
personal development. The core idea is that each category (e.g. introvert or extrovert) is
represented by a group of certain personality traits. The categories give you a rounded picture
of your behaviors and how you react to the world.
I list underneath the most common traits of each category. Pick the group you feel most
familiar with and read on for the tips.
Favourite World: Introverts vs. Extroverts

5. Which one is your favourite world: the outer world or the inner world? An extrovert prefers to
focus on the outer world with big groups of friends and colleagues. On the contrary, an
introvert has a strong tendency to stay in a much small circle, or most of the time, just on her
own. Here are more details about introverts and extroverts.
1. Extroverts
You are more an extrovert if the following traits apply to you.
You gain energy from active involvement in events and a lot of different activities.
You are excited when you are around people.
You are comfortable working in groups and prefer working in group.
You like moving into action swiftly, and make things happen. You tend to not stop to
make a plan first.
Extroverts often spring into action, which leads to spontaneous and intuitive feedback.
However, you tend to be inconsistent when it comes to regular feedback. The inconsistency
stands in the way of building a good habit and a strong culture of continuous feedback.
So, what can you do? Here are things I recommend:
Firstly, change the mindset. Actively remind yourself that your colleagues can benefit more
from regular feedback, compared with feedback once in a while when you feel like.

6. Secondly, set up a system to implement regular feedback. Initiate recurring one­on­ones.
Mark them in your calendar. Make a plan for sharing feedback. Your innate tendency might
pull you toward doing feedback spontaneously, but try to push through it.
2. Introverts
You are more an introvert if you find the following characters familiar:
You feel drained being around a lot of people for a long period of time.
You are comfortable doing things on your own or with the few people you feel
comfortable with.
You take time to reflect idea, and have a tendency to not move into actions quickly
enough.
Introverts find frequent face­to­face feedback sessions exhausting. You tend to avoid
feedback conversations when you are low in energy.
One solution could be to use Impraise to send written feedback via an app instead. Written
communication is often the preferred choice of introverts. Another solution is to avoid
arranging feedback sessions too close to each other. Take a break to recharge properly
before you get back to it.
Beside, introverts have a tendency to procrastinate. That makes you miss the right time to
give impactful feedback. Here are a few tips for procrastination:

7. Write “giving feedback” in your to­do list. Schedule a time for it if possible.
Break the task down into smaller steps. When you want to tell a colleague about a
behavior of her, do that in steps. Firstly, arrange a time to talk with her. Note that down
in your calendar. Secondly, plan what specifically you would say. There is a simple
formula for feedback to help you later on. Thirdly, show up at the arranged time and do
it.
When you want to give feedback to a few people, do it one by one. Multitasking is not
for procrastinators.
Decision­Making: Thinkers vs. Feelers
This refers to how you make decisions. Do you prioritise logical sides of all matters or do you
always take people and circumstances into consideration? Do you prioritise logical sides of all
matters or do you always take people and circumstances into consideration? If you pick the
first option, you have the tendency of a thinker. If you say yes to the second one, you are
more a feeler.
1. Thinkers
Here are some personality traits of thinkers:
You make decisions based on logic and the basic truth.

8. You tend to analyse pros and cons, which you weigh against each other so you can
make the best decisions.
Sometimes you are considered as task­oriented, uncaring or indifferent to people and
specific situations.
You focus mostly on continuous improvement and getting the best results.
Because you tend to see room to improve all the time, you overlook achievements. Thinkers
tend to not give compliments often enough or not at all. Your logic is that people should know
when they do well. There is no need for you to point that out for them.
You need to change that mindset. People might know that they have done well, but it is
always encouraging to hear others talking about it. Make it your habit to give a compliment to
a well­done job. Of course, it is much easier said than done when it comes to change
behavior. By being aware of the problem, you are more than halfway to solve it though.
Besides, when thinkers give feedback, you tend to focus on correction and criticism. Your
focus on the facts can cause you to disregard personal feeling. That can badly affect your
relationship with your colleagues. Learn to give feedback the most constructive way. You will
find some tips for that later on.
2. Feelers
Here are some personality traits of feelers:
You believe that you make the best decisions by weighing what people care about and

9. the points­of­view of persons involved in a situation.
You want to establish or maintain harmony in relationship, and you tend to do whatever
it takes to do so.
You find it hard to communicate the “hard truth” of situations. Sometimes you are
perceived as indirect.
Feelers don’t want to give corrective feedback because you worries that it would badly affect
your relationship with feedback recipients. It goes against your principles.
However, according to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, your colleagues
actually want to hear the negative feedback you don’t want to give. So maybe it’s the time to
change your mindset and start giving the corrective feedback anyway.
Besides, you can learn the skills to give critical feedback that does not cause damages to
the harmony of the relationship. You will find more tips on this in the coming part of this
article.
The lack of confidence in your feedback giving skills
Many say that they would like to give feedback but they don’t know how to do it right. They are
not confident in their feedback giving skills. They worry their corrective feedback will cause
friction in the team or just become another matter left unsolved.

10. At Impraise, we find three most common concerns when it comes to giving feedback, as
follows:
1. How do you give corrective feedback that people are most likely to accept and least
likely to get upset?
2. How to give a praise that works best?
3. What exactly should you include in your feedback?
Here is the golden rule: When giving feedback, separate praise and criticism. Don’t use the
feedback sandwich. Keep your messages clear and separate to get the best out of each.
Mixing praise and criticism risks sounding insincere. Moreover, it is likely that parts of the
message would go missing. In an experiment run by behavioral science professor Ayelet
Fishbach of University of Chicago, most people only remember favourable comments
regardless given both at the same time. So your colleagues are likely to miss out the
information that can help them improve if you use the feedback sandwich.
Therefore, it only makes sense for me to give you separate tips for praising and giving
corrective feedback. Then I will also offer a formula for feedback that can make an impact.
How to give corrective feedback
First of all are some tips for corrective feedback since most people find it challenging to
deliver criticism.

11. Adopt a mindset starting from WHY. Ask yourself why you want to give the feedback.
Never use feedback to vent your frustration on your colleagues. Only keep reading if
you want to help your colleagues grow.
Choose the right time: Sooner is better than later, unless strong emotion is involved.
Choose the right space: Do it in private, pick a place where both can relax and feel
comfortable.
Nurture the right behaviors, namely: be specific in your feedback, offer suggestions for
improvement, listen actively and follow up.
How to give praise
Giving praise is not as challenging but there are some tips for you to get the most out of
praise:
Give early praise
You should give compliments when others are doing the tasks, not just after they accomplish
them. The reason for it is that early praise will help boost one’s confidence significantly.
Early praise can also serve as the signal for “you are going the right direction”. Such signal is
important to keep everyone on track in long­term projects.
Besides, after receiving praise, task performers is likely to become more perceptive for future
suggestions. However, when you give early praise, remember to stress what still needs to be

12. done. Keep your colleagues focused on the final goal.
Tailor your compliments
You should tailor compliments according to personality and experience of the recipients.
An introvert would prefer receiving praise in front of a group of her closest colleagues rather
than the whole company of 500 almost strangers.
Moreover, a junior is more in need of early praise as a guide toward the right direction. A
senior would like to see praise as appreciation of her continuous efforts. She wouldn’t need
that much acknowledgement. She is experienced enough to spot good work.
How to formulate feedback so it will make an impact
You want your feedback to make an impact, right? Here is formula for you:
Feedback = Situation + Behaviour + Impact + Next
In brief,
Feedback stoppers come from both outside and inside your own self. Gain the best
understanding of the reasons so you can learn to adapt, change and master the skills of
GIVING feedback.