What are the disadvantages of giving feedback?

Management expert Ken Blanchard once said that “feedback is the breakfast of champions”. What he probably meant is that meaningful feedback can make the difference between mediocrity and greatness. Without quality feedback, employees don’t know how to improve.

But feedback can only help employees improve when it’s constructive. Before we discuss how to give constructive feedback, let’s talk about what that really means.

Constructive feedback aims to build the individual up, rather than break them down. Does that mean always focusing on giving positive feedback? Not at all. What it does mean is that feedback is only constructive when it’s provided with the right approach. When you manage to provide constructive feedback, you’ll see employees grow and flourish.

The Mistakes That Result in Ineffective Feedback

Giving and receiving feedback in the workplace isn’t quite as easy as it seems. Fragile egos, miscommunication, and poor timing are just some of the challenges of giving feedback. These challenges can easily stand in the way of giving and receiving feedback that supports employees’ growth.

Let’s take a closer look at the specific mistakes you’re probably making in your approach to feedback, and some feedback tips for managers to correct them.

1. Making feedback too personal

Too often, managers approach problems with an employee’s performance as being problems with the employee themselves, rather than skill or process issues. For example, a manager might say “you handled that meeting with Adam poorly, your immaturity made our department look incompetent”. Could you blame the employee for being insulted in this situation?

Instead, managers should focus on the actions and their consequences, rather than the person. Constructive negative feedback is as objective as possible and focuses on corrective action.

For example, the manager in the above example could rather say “it’s clear that you were upset by what Adam said in the meeting. While I understand you’re passionate about the project, it’s important that we keep our communication with other departments professional if we want them to take our opinions seriously.

Next time, try taking a deep breath and writing down your thoughts. If you feel comfortable saying them calmly, do, otherwise, put them in an email after the meeting”.

2. Making feedback too impersonal

In the above example of providing feedback to employees, we see that personal attacks have no place in constructive feedback. Unfortunately, though, some managers tend to overcorrect to avoid personal accusations.

Sometimes managers will provide feedback for the team, instead of individuals. The manager may tell the sales team “we underperformed by 25% this month. The team needs to improve its negotiation skills if we’re going to meet our quarterly target”.

What are individual employees supposed to do with this feedback? Some of them may identify with the need to improve negotiation skills, but other employees won’t, and won’t know how to improve their performance.

Individual performance influences team performance, but improvements can only happen at the individual level. Any guidelines about how to give constructive feedback will emphasize this idea: start with the individual.

Managers need to understand the factors influencing each employee’s performance and identify specific measures for improvement. This can be time-consuming and requires experienced managers, but it’s well worth it in the end!

3. “Sandwich-ing” negative feedback

Many managers outright avoid negative feedback. Instead, they adopt the “sandwich” method. This relies on placing negative feedback between positive feedback. The manager might say something like “the team loves your energy and bubbly personality. Some team members find that you talk too much at your desk and that’s distracting. But overall, we just love having you around”.

Now, clearly, this manager has tried to cushion the blow. But it’s possible to cushion the blow so much that the only feedback the employee hears is the positive type. Sugar coating a bitter pill is only effective if the employee understands that they’re receiving constructive negative feedback, too. Otherwise, you may as well be handing them M&Ms.

So, how do you avoid the sandwich trap without being unkind? Clarity is kindness. Start with the negative feedback, keep it constructive, and provide praise separately. For example, the manager should keep “some employees find you talking at your desk distracting” and “your bubbly personality contributes to our team” as separate points of discussion.

4. Playing armchair psychologist

Some of the most uncomfortable examples of providing feedback to employees involve the manager using their insight into the employee to guess the motives behind their behavior.

It’s all too tempting to tell an employee who isn’t delivering on deadline that you think they’re behind “because of issues at home”. Now, this doesn’t mean that managers should ignore their insights into employee performance. However, they should be careful of assuming that their insights tell the whole story.

No one likes to feel like people are making assumptions about them. Employees might even be deeply insulted by a manager’s intrusion into their personal issues.

That’s why one of our feedback suggestions for managers is to ask, rather than assume. If an employee has missed a few deadlines, their manager should take them aside and say “you’ve missed a number of deadlines lately, what do you think is causing this? Let’s look at how we can get you back on track”.

5. Postponing feedback

What’s worse than receiving negative feedback? Receiving feedback so long after the fact that you can’t do anything to improve the situation. One of the toughest challenges of giving feedback is getting the timing right.

In an effort to keep things professional, many managers wait for performance reviews to provide employees with any constructive feedback. This means that if there’s an issue in January, they could wait until the end of the quarter (March) to address it.

This doesn’t work for a couple of reasons. Firstly, managers can become fed up with an employee who isn’t changing their behavior, forgetting that they haven’t even discussed the behavior with them yet. Secondly, it means that performance reviews can be too focused on problems that occurred months ago, and are all but forgotten.

So, take super-entrepreneur Tim Fargo’s advice that “mistakes should be examined, learned from, and discarded; not dwelled upon and stored”. Address issues as they arise. Build regular opportunities for feedback into everyone’s schedule, such as bi-weekly one-on-ones. Regular feedback will also give employees practice on receiving constructive feedback, so it’s a no-brainer.

6. Setting vague expectations

Knowing if both sides are on the same page is another one of the core challenges of giving feedback.

Feedback is only constructive if it’s actionable, specific, and clear. So, don’t say “we need to see you become more diligent in your work”. Being more diligent is great in theory, but how exactly do you improve diligence, a personal quality? Rather say “you need to pay closer attention to detail in your assignments”. Provide examples where the employee has not behaved with attention to detail. Both sides need to understand exactly what incorrect behavior looks like, and what an improvement would look like.

Setting improvement KPIs is one way to make your expectations clear, and track employee progress. For example, a copywriter can work toward a goal of keeping typos under five for every 1000 words.

Finally, make sure that the consequences for not improving are clear. Let’s say that the copywriter above doesn’t improve their attention to detail. Do they know what to expect? Explain the practical actions that the organization will need to take, without making threats.

Put These Feedback Tips into Action

Yes, champions eat feedback for breakfast. But champions also know that providing good feedback requires skill and sensitivity.

Now you know how to give constructive feedback at the right time, with the right approach and clear expectations. Apply the tips in this article, avoid performance feedback errors, and expect to see employee performance and employee-manager relationships positively transform.

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Everyone knows their customers’ opinions matter. But not everyone understands exactly why they’re important—or that they can screw up a business. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of customer feedback will make it a powerful tool rather than a loose cannon.

Disadvantages of Customer Feedback

1. It Can Be a Waste

This might not be the lovey-dovey thing to say, but sometimes, gathering customer feedback is a waste of time and money.

Say you sent out a bunch of surveys, got plenty of responses, and found out that for the most part, your customers politely said they were reasonably satisfied with your company. Would that inspire you to take a specific action? No? If it does not lead to action, feedback is meaningless.

How to Avoid This Disadvantage

Always set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals before attempting to gather customer feedback. They force you to ask why you’re doing this and how you’ll use the info afterwards. When you know what your goals are, you’ll identify the right questions to ask your customers.

2. The Most Vocal Customers Are Disproportionately Represented

Often, the people you hear aren’t the perfect representatives of the average customer you think they are. They just have the loudest voices. It’s common to ask for feedback, see a request for a new feature or offering, and then spend months working on it—only to find out the customer who requested it is the only one who cares when it’s released.

How to Avoid This Disadvantage

Make sure you get sufficient feedback. Ask your customers to vote for the requests they’d like to see the most, or track related complaints to see which issues have the widest effect. And don’t forget to ask your own team whether an idea has potential.

3. It Can Turn Customers Against You

When you start taking feedback, some customers will assume you will act on every word. They may get upset if you turn down their request or shuffle it to the bottom of the pile. Expect complaints like “I requested a new feature two weeks ago. Why doesn’t it exist yet?”

In 2016, Apptentive found that 55% of consumers would probably abandon a company that totally ignored their feedback. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen!

How to Avoid This Disadvantage

Set clear expectations: “All customer requests will be reviewed in the order in which they were received and given serious consideration.” “We will only create the two new flavors that receive the most votes.” “The results of the survey will be presented to the board during the next meeting.” And on top of that, remember to thank customers even if you don’t use their suggestions.

Informing customers how exactly you use their feedback will save them from having to fill in the blanks themselves. This will not only give them realistic expectations and save them from feeling ignored, but also help explain what’s in it for them. That will make them more likely to participate in the first place.

OK, I think that’s enough pessimism for one day! Let’s move on to the reasons why collecting customer feedback is awesome for your business.

Advantages of Customer Feedback

1. Learning What Your Customers Really Want

You may think your idea is super, but that doesn’t mean your customers would. Getting their feedback takes out the guesswork and lets you know what they actually want to see.

If a sizable portion of your customers want one thing, then you’ll know you’ll have a ready-made market for it as soon as you release it. Plus, if you collect their contact info along with their feedback, you’ll know exactly who to market it to as soon as it’s ready.

2. Learning What Your Customers DON’T Want

Sometimes, your company thinks it has a brilliant idea, but it turns out to be a very poor choice—like Life Savers soda or Colgate Kitchen Entrees. A little customer feedback would probably warn you that if you brand a TV dinner with the same name as your toothpaste, your customers will always imagine how gross food tastes right after you’ve brushed your teeth whenever they look at your product. Running your ideas by them first can save you from that kind of massive flop.

3. Improving Customer Loyalty

Taking and using customer feedback is a powerful form of relationship marketing. In 2016, Apptentive found that for 97% of consumers, a company acting on their feedback would make them at least somewhat likely to become more loyal.

4. Catching Problems

Without feedback, your company will never notice most problems its customers experience. Even if you use your own products, your customers will gain infinitely more experience with them than you ever could.

You need customers to tell you if running 18 specific processes at once causes the software to crash, or if using the wrong brand of batteries will cause your children’s toy to start screaming obscenities. Only they will run your offerings through enough bizarre situations to find everything that’s wrong with them.

Great! So, How Do I Gather Customer Feedback?

You can acquire feedback either passively or actively.

Gathering Feedback Passively

Passive feedback is a great choice for companies that need a steady stream of customer input. These systems are as simple as setting up a feedback form or forum on your website, or leaving out writing materials and a box for comments and complaints in your restaurant. Then you let customers tell you what they think when it’s convenient for them.

Great examples of this include Amazon seller ratings and eBay feedback. Although a bit more public than some sellers might prefer, they encourage buyers to voice their honest opinions. When you need to improve, you’ll know it!

If you want to gather feedback passively without showing the world the bad reviews, we recommend using helpdesk software. Zoho Desk, Re:amaze, Gorgias, Help Scout, Freshdesk or Zendesk can do the trick. As one example, Freshdesk’s Free plan gives you a feedback widget that you can add to your website. Their higher-level plans also let you set up a community forum.

Gathering Feedback Actively

When you need a lot of feedback at once, it’s time to go active. This is worthwhile if you want to test the waters for a new idea or make rapid improvements.

The most common way to gather feedback actively is with surveys. This can easily be done online with tools like SurveyMonkey (which integrates nicely with Freshdesk and Zendesk).

You may feel like there’s no practical way to actively gather feedback on your business. However, there’s usually a way if you think outside the box. Seller-initiated Amazon feedback requests are one such example of a commonly ignored opportunity. Most Amazon sellers think they're too tedious to deal with, but they can be completely automated with tools like CR Feedback.

Should I Bother with Feedback?

Absolutely! The advantages of customer feedback far outweigh the disadvantages. As long as you’re careful to go in with a plan, take the feedback with a grain of salt, make your customers feel like their opinions are valued, and act on good customer ideas, you should reap enormous benefits—including serious ROI.