How to Give — and Receive — Critical Feedback

HBR On Leadership

Are you struggling to give and receive feedback at work? Executive coach and organizational consultant Ben Dattner says giving good feedback is really about how you deliver it.

“I think what good bosses do is they let their employees know…the reason I’m giving you this feedback is to help you be more successful,” he tells Dear HBR hosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn. “This is not adversarial. This is the two of us together trying to make something better.”

Dattner takes questions from Dear HBR listeners about what to do when an employee isn’t making changes based on your feedback, and how to respond when your employee offers you unexpected feedback.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, developing employees, giving feedback, receiving feedback, communication.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Critical Feedback (Feb 2019)
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.