Giving Effective Feedback to Staff

"As anyone who has tried to give advice to a teacher about her teaching style well knows, being effective at giving feedback is not an easy task," wrote Roger Neugebauer in the book The Art of Leadership: Developing People in Early Childhood Organizations. "The natural tendency is for teachers to become defensive when feedback about their performance is presented. This reaction occurs when the receiver perceives a threat to her position in the organization, to her standing in the group, or to her own self-image." Neugebauer presents these guidelines to help feedback be effective.

"Feedback should:

• focus on behavior, not the person...
• focus on observations, not inferences...
• focus on descriptions, not judgments...
• be given unfiltered...
• be given in small doses...
• be given on a timely basis...
• be given to the teacher as his tool to control his own performance...
• avoid giving mixed messages...
• check for reactions...

And finally, writes Neugebauer, the person giving feedback should "be open to feedback, yourself."

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