When does providing feedback become too distracting?

Our reader poll today asks: When does providing feedback become too distracting?

– Never. All feedback is great to give and receive: 12%
– Sometimes. People don’t always provide actionable feedback: 71%
– Often. Too much feedback becomes distracting and confusing: 14%
– All of the time. Enough with the feedback already. Let’s do some work: 3%

Our feedback needs work. Many of you expressed frustration, it seems, not only about the quantity of feedback but also whether it is actionable. Unless feedback has a “request for change” with it, sometimes it’s hard for the recipient to do anything with it. That leaves people frustrated. When you provide feedback, make sure you give the person actionable behavior to change. Or, if the person has done something well, make it known specifically what action should be replicated. If you’re the recipient and the feedback isn’t actionable, ask the giver to suggest what you should do differently. If you do this consistently, the quality of feedback should improve.

Do you agree with these poll results?  Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.