Things to Do if an Employee Misunderstands Your Constructive Feedback

You’re already aware that being too negative when giving feedback to your employees doesn’t work. If anything, they feel bad. While there’s nothing wrong in being honest, going beyond the line can be counterproductive. You also understand that your feedback should be constructive. It allows the employees to determine the next step to be better at what they do. The problem is that not everyone sees the feedback positively. Here’s what you need to do if the constructive feedback wasn’t viewed the right way.

Ask for an immediate conversation

You can’t assume everything was fine and decide not to have another conversation with the employee. If you allow the misunderstanding to continue, it can lead to more problems. Set a meeting with the person and clarify the issues. It’s the only way to highlight your point and ensure that everything was taken positively.

Determine what the employee understood from the discussion

Start by asking the employee what was learned or assumed from the previous discussion. Perhaps, there was another misunderstanding along the way and it made things harder for both parties. You can correct the issue as soon as you have caught it.

Be patient

Some employees are just not receptive to feedback. It doesn’t matter if you said something good or bad. As long as you have given any form of feedback, you will most likely be the bad guy. Therefore, it pays to be patient. You can’t expect the employees to understand you. It takes time, but your point will eventually come across.

Evaluate the employee’s performance

You can’t let your employee do the same thing over and over again. Perhaps, it’s time for performance evaluation. It might seem like a misunderstanding at first, but it could be deliberate. Some employees are unwilling to change their ways and wouldn’t accept any form of criticism. You can’t keep these people in your team. The only way to grow is by accepting the feedback and making the most of it. Of course, you’re open to questions and clarifications. You just don’t want the employees to ignore what you’ve said altogether. Consider letting the person go if you believe there’s no hope of integrating your suggestions to the job.

Keep trying

Just because your feedback wasn’t accepted correctly doesn’t mean you will stop. You should still keep trying. You want the employee to learn. Perhaps, the misunderstanding only happened at that time for whatever reason. On your next conversation, there will be more clarity.

Use better words

You might tend to sugarcoat and assume that you’ve sent a clear message. The truth is you’ve only buried the real message. Therefore, it helps if you choose different words. Be blunt, if possible, but don’t be disrespectful. You also want to lay out specific steps to ensure performance changes.

Misunderstanding will always happen in a work environment. Just don’t let it continue to happen.

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