4 Things That Happen When You Fail To Give Feedback

Leaders rarely want to hurt their team. Yet, many do it through one simple action:

Silence…

Here’s the thing: Leaders can make mistakes. That’s okay. Their failures aren’t through trying. Leadership failures show up as silence.

Oof.

If you’ve ever been in an organization where leadership is silent, you know the damaging impact silence has. We’re going to discuss 4 things that happen when leadership is silent and fails to give proper feedback.

4 Things That Happen When You Fail To Give Feedback

Two people talking with laptops on a desk

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Small problems compound into big performance gaps

Small problems can be quickly fixed if they’re addressed early on. However, when silence is the response to a problem, team members see it as affirmation. Since nothing is said, I must be doing things right. Right?

But that’s not the case. The silence makes performance gaps larger.

You’re harming your team members when you fail to break the silence. When you let small problems fester, you create massive issues.

Step up. Speak up when you see a small problem. Reality is that your team member will be grateful you were willing to make the painful correction.

Quality quietly declines—until “normal” looks unacceptable

Quality begins to decline when you miss the easy coaching opportunities. Are you no longer conducting one-on-one meetings? Maybe you’ve failed to touch base with your team members.

These missed opportunities allow quality to decline, slowly. Now, it’s the new normal. The new normal is not something that your organization desires.

Whoops.

But that’s what happens. Team members’ patterns begin to repeat. Patterns that you don’t want.

Now, you’re stuck with unacceptable behavior that has become normal.

Trust erodes because people feel surprised instead of supported

When does your feedback show up? Only during performance or annual reviews? You’re missing out.

If you only give feedback during reviews, many team members will be shocked by the feedback that is given. They haven’t been informed of any shortcomings or issues.

You’re now hitting them with it with no warning. No chance to correct.

Your actions here erode trust.

Team members feel as if they’ve been blindsided with the feedback. They feel like they’ve been in a vacuum doing their best only to be told that they’ve been failing.

Ouch.

The sense of support or trust goes away immediately. The team members feel like they’ve had the truth withheld from them.

Talent quietly leaves—or stops trying

When there’s no feedback, talent begins to wonder what’s the purpose of their work. Do they really matter? What’s the difference between here and another place? Would they even be missed?

This silence is the danger zone.

You’re signaling to your talent that what they do doesn’t matter. That they can stop trying and fly under the radar.

That’s not healthy.

Your silence creates disengagement. The lack of guidance or empowerment leaves employees feeling empty.

Eventually, people completely disengage (quiet quitting) and begin to look for newer, greener pastures.