Some people are so uncomfortable about giving feedback that they avoid it altogether. Others do it in a way which makes you feel offended, attacked, or demoralised. Still others in their effort not to give offence come across without conviction. The problem with feedback is how to be strong enough to be taken seriously yet friendly enough to win co-operation, how to be firm but fair, tough on the issue but soft on the person.

Could this course be relevant for you?

Yes if any of the following apply to you;-

Sometimes in your job you have to correct people. But you don’t like it in case you come across as confrontational, rude or disrespectful.
You’d like to correct people firmly but politely.
You feel uncomfortable doing other people’s appraisals because don't like having to do the human resources aspect of managing people. Instead of improving your relationships they end up causing you stress. You may accept they’ve got to be done but don’t feel at all comfortable doing them.
Sometimes you have to be tough with people, but you're not confident you can do it without causing offence. You'd love to be able to be tough on the issue yet soft on the person.
You want a diplomatic and tactful way to criticise people.
You recognise that your interpersonal feedback has gone wrong when your criticism makes other people defensive.
You want to develop your leadership skills and become more inspirational and encouraging
You don’t like to praise too much in case other people might think you sound insincere or patronising.
You hate to criticise because you don’t know how to give critical feedback without antagonising.
You don’t enjoy confronting problems or having difficult conversations.
You've were never taught how to give constructive feedback.
You want to develop your management skills and communication skills so you can be better at performance management.
You know that people need to be confronted from time to time, and they might benefit from tough, firm and clear feedback, but you’re not at all confident how to do it safely.
You want to be toughen up your management skills and not accept poor quality at work.
You find it hard to talk about difficult subjects, or to confront difficult people.
You really want to receive some good quality feedback, but don't know how to ask for it from the people from whom you need if they are not very good at giving it.
Sometimes you want to be able to express strong feelings, express dissatisfaction or complain more successfully and you’d love to know if there is a diplomatic way of to do it that doesn’t start a fight.
You want to help people face hard truths.
You want to be more generous with your praise
You want to know more about emotional intelligence and how it can help you communicate more effectively with others

What does this course offer

This isn’t just a set of academic lectures where you learn a few bits of dry theory. There is some theory. Most people like a little bit of it. We’ll explore why giving feedback is difficult to do. And then we’ll move on to what you’re really here for which is that you’ll get a very simple, clear and powerful skill set. I’ll teach you exactly what to say, and how to say it to produce the effect you want. I’ll explain in detail an emotionally intelligent method of giving feedback where you can be both kind to the person and tough on the issue. I’ll include some exercises that you can practice in order to help you prepare for meetings where you’ll be able to predict the kinds of things people might say so you can rehearse how best to respond in those situations.

We’ll cover;-

How to praise without patronising
How to criticise without attacking
How to confront others WITHOUT discouraging and putting them on the defensive
Common feedback pitfalls to avoid
Typical obstacles when providing good quality feedback
How NOT to criticise if you want to motivate others to change

By the end of the course, and with some skill and practice you can get to the stage where you’ll be able to confidently “give it to people straight” without having to worry about whether the way you’re putting it is going to ruffle their feathers. You’ll even find that other people will be grateful for your attention because they’ll find your insights so helpful and supportive.

Richard Carlson

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