Giving Good Feedback

The Economist Edge Series

Margaret Cheng

From the Economist Edge Series, an essential new guide on giving, soliciting and receiving feedback.

We are surrounded by feedback, whether we're being asked to like, rate, or otherwise comment on products, services, or even people. At work, the right kind of feedback delivered at the right time and in the right way can help us all to learn and improve. In reality, though, that's easier said than done.

Help is at hand. Margaret Cheng's six golden rules and Giving Good Feedback Framework offer a clear guide to what feedback is, how we can master the things that get in the way and deploy some simple techniques to make feedback a more routine—and less emotionally charged—part of our routine work communications.

Margaret Cheng has thirty years' experience as a Senior HR Manager, Executive and Career Coach, and Director of a social enterprise. She previously wrote on business-related topics for an HR and outplacement consultancy and CIPD magazine and has appeared on Working Lunch. Cheng has also been published by The Wildlife Trust, Bloomsbury Festival, Bloomsbury Radio and Friends on the Shelf. She lives in Britain.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"I suspect I'm not alone in having given limited thought to what feedback is for, only focussing on it when the annual appraisal season comes up, or after a short training session. And few of us are comfortable with giving (or receiving) it. That's why Margaret Cheng's new book is so important. It helps us to re-think feedback, what it's for and how we should use it. She reminds us that it's about much more than those annual appraisals. It should be all about learning and developing. Giving Good Feedback provides proper guidance on how to tackle it, and how to make it a more routine - and less painful - part of our working lives.” Paul Johnson, Director of the Institiute of Fiscal Studies and author of Follow The Money: How Much Does Britain Cost?

“There are perhaps no words more dreaded at work than: "Can I give you some feedback?" Most of us hate giving it. Most of us, if we're honest, hate receiving it. Margaret Cheng's brilliant book is a mixture of well-researched perspectives, some of the most helpful models and approaches and pearls of wisdom from her own impressive career. It's as entertaining and interesting as it is practical. This will definitely be a book I keep coming back to.” Graham Allcott, author of How to Be a Productivity Ninja: Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do