How to be a boss at giving performance reviews

There are three essential strategies for delivering feedback that is both effective and constructive.

- Kip Holderness, Kari Olsen and Todd Thornock

When you're a manager, delivering feedback can feel like walking a tightrope. Whether you're praising an employee's accomplishments or addressing a shortfall, how you communicate can have a big impact on how your words are received and acted upon.

As business school professors, we've done research into how to make the assessment process as painless as possible. And we've found three essential strategies for delivering feedback that's both effective and constructive.

Using these strategies will help you elevate the feedback process, fostering a more positive and productive work environment:

KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS OUT OF IT

Have you ever noticed that saying things like "I'm disappointed" or "I'm proud of you" can change a feedback conversation completely? That's because the language you use - particularly emotionally charged words - can shift how employees interpret the feedback.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our research shows that using negative emotional language - like "I'm disappointed" - can reduce employee motivation and effort. This happens because employees shift their focus away from their performance and towards how you, the manager, see them as a person.

At the same time, using positive emotional language such as “I'm pleased” can sometimes backfire. That's because it can make employees feel complacent.