How good are you at giving difficult feedback promptly?

Our reader poll today asks: How good are you at giving difficult feedback promptly?

– Great — I share difficult feedback immediately: 21.53%
– OK — I give tough feedback with some hesitation: 60.76%
– Not good — I struggle with giving tough feedback: 16.64%
– Poor — I rarely share difficult feedback: 1.07%

Prompt feedback matters. You should never hesitate to give tough feedback promptly.  Not doing so is a failure of leadership.  You’re not only letting that individual down – you’re letting down the rest of the team too.  Invariably they see the person’s shortcomings and they wonder why the boss isn’t taking corrective action.  It’s a slippery morale slope from there.  Not giving tough feedback promptly can lead to disastrous results and damage your credibility as a leader.  That failure also impairs your team’s overall performance.  So swallow hard and go deliver the tough messages – it’s much easier to do than you might think.

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.