Do you hold back when you are giving feedback to women in work? In a study by McKinsey Consultants and Lean In, managers in corporate America are up to 20% more likely to hold back on difficult feedback that may enhance a woman’s career or job performance in comparison with their male counterparts. Both gender equally look for feedback and a good 66% of managers in the report stated they would be happy to give feedback when asked.
When delving deeper into the question, 36% of women said they received difficult feedback (sometimes, often or very often) when 46% of men received it.
The main reasons stated for not giving difficult feedback:
With gamification often built around feedback loops, this is interesting to know. More and more systems include feedback loops, it would be interesting to observe if the same pattern persists in digital scenarios. I hazard a guess that when it comes to in the moment feedback on digital, more people would give it. If we look at social media behaviour, we may even find that more nasty feedback is given based on personal bias than would be given in a face to face situation.
Feedback helps us all grow especially when it is constructive. I know I have had managers who dared to give great feedback that I could work with and others who really never went beyond platitudes. All of us can feel hurt when we receive feedback that is a bit unfavourable, yet it is often what makes us better at what we do. It may take a bit of processing time. As an executive coach I often gave feedback on a perceived situation and because of the trust situation most clients felt supported rather than hurt. In the end of the day that had opted in to the program to grow. I was always very aware that I only had one side of the facts or story. I think as a manager that is also important to be aware of. I used to coach a lot of male managers who found it hard to give difficult feedback to ladies for fear that they might cry and the only answer I ever gave is to bring tissues and to allow the lady in question time to process the information. Some times of the month ladies are more prone to crying, yet it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t receive feedback of a difficult nature. Growth tends to be uncomfortable at times.
Giving feedback is essential and best in the moment. In a gamification setting it would operate like an Uber model where both parties give star ratings on the service received. Or more in depth on customer service feedback survey examples.
