Managerial feedback has the power to engage and motivate your team. But there’s a catch: It has to be delivered in the right way. That means leaving vague, wishy-washy feedback like “great job” or “good work” behind. Instead, managers need to focus on positive feedback that’s actually helpful.
A 2023 survey by Lattice and YouGov found that, alongside trust and clear responsibilities, regular praise and recognition are essential for empowering and motivating employees to perform their best. But knowing why you need to do something and how to do it are two different things. Here, we’ve outlined the elements of effective positive feedback, plus some real-world examples to get you started.
Examples of Effective Positive Employee Feedback for 8 Scenarios
How do you know what positive feedback looks like if you haven’t seen it in practice? Here, we’ve collected expert-approved examples of positive feedback for eight common workplace scenarios — so you can see how it’s done.
1. Employee Goes Out of Their Way to Help Another Team Member
- “I noticed you took the time to help Jane with her project, even though you had a busy schedule. Your willingness to support your colleagues and share your expertise demonstrates great teamwork and commitment. Thank you for being a reliable team player!” - Amy Spurling, founder and CEO at Compt
- “I noticed how, in addition to your workload, you put so much effort into helping Bob get to his quarter attainment. Since he was out of work for a few weeks being ill, he fell behind — and you demonstrating such empathy to him struggling and your commitment to seeing the team get to goal was incredibly impressive and a very valuable addition.” - Daniel Space, senior HR consultant and HR content creator at DanFromHR
2. Employee Meets Their Professional Goals
- “Congratulations on achieving your Q2 sales targets! Your consistent effort in strategizing and reaching out to clients has paid off. Your dedication and hard work are truly inspiring.” - Amy Spurling
- I’m really impressed that you met your professional goals this month. Your positive attitude and commitment to continuous learning and professional development meant you could apply new strategies to our client outreach, which led to a 10% increase in sales. You’ve shown your ability to embrace new challenges and grow in your role.
3. Employee Resolves an Issue for a Challenge Client or Account
- “Your work to help resolve this client was incredible. I noticed how you never balked or reacted harshly even when their words to you were a little insulting. You took each criticism in stride, made small promises, and delivered on them to build trust — and after consistent delivery and communication, you reinforced your promise. This was a very admirable effort, and I'm not surprised to see that they have decided to continue with us as your commitment to consistency and high performance paid off.” - Daniel Space
- “You did a great job in resolving the issue for X client. They can sometimes be challenging, but you remained customer-focused, positive, and confident. What feedback did you get from the client? Would you do anything differently next time?” - Nicola Morrison, HR director at The HR Dept - Loughborough, West Bridgford, and Ashby-De-La-Zouch
4. Employee Consistently Meets Deadlines
- “Your ability to consistently meet deadlines is impressive. Your time management and dedication ensure that our projects run smoothly and on schedule. Keep up the excellent work!” Amy Spurling
- “I’ve noted that you consistently meet deadlines at a good pace and often ahead of when things are due. This has a reassuring impact on the rest of the team as everyone can move forward in an effective and productive way. The way that you organize your time and your work is impressive, and I’d love for you to share your best practices with the rest of the team too.” - Abigail Ireland, peak performance strategist at Understanding Performance
5. Employee Fosters Positive Relationships With Other Team Members
- “My observation is that the relationships you build with other members of the team are based on trust and openness. This clearly shows when we are in team meetings and colleagues share their views and thoughts, which in turn leads to even better discussions. This is very powerful when we are striving to make the best decisions.” - Abigail Ireland
- “I appreciate how you always take the time to build positive relationships with your colleagues. Your collaborative spirit and supportiveness create a more cohesive and productive team environment. Thank you!” - Amy Spurling
6. Employee Proactively Finds Solutions for Operational Challenges
- “Your proactive approach to identifying and implementing solutions for our operational challenges has significantly improved our efficiency. Your initiative and innovative thinking are highly valued.” - Amy Spurling
- I’ve been impressed by your ability to streamline our client acquisition process. Your problem-solving skills helped identify points of friction and find effective solutions in a timely manner. As a result, you’ve improved the customer journey and made the onboarding process a lot smoother.
7. Employee Bolstered Another Employee
- “Thank you for supporting your colleague with that piece of work, it's great that you recognized they needed some extra encouragement. Would you approach this any differently next time? Did your colleague share any feedback with you?” - Nicola Morrison
- “Your mentorship and support for John during his onboarding process were exceptional. Your guidance helped him quickly adapt and feel comfortable in his new role. Thank you for your leadership and support.” - Amy Spurling
8. Employee Improves the Quality of Their Work
- “I have seen great improvement in the quality of your work, showing great progress and potential. What has helped you to improve? What are your next steps to continue learning?” - Nicola Morrison
- “I’ve noticed that the error rate for this process has dropped considerably over the last few weeks. This is a fantastic outcome which shows how well you are focusing on the details and how this focus has developed in such a short space of time. I can see how well you are picking this up and pinpointing the parts that can easily be missed, such as the second-stage checks. As a result, the process is now much faster and more accurate, which is helping the wider team to be more efficient too.” - Abigail Ireland
Effective vs. Ineffective Positive Employee Feedback
All positive feedback is good feedback, right? Well, no. “It’s not very effective to give someone positive feedback without sharing the context, evidence of what they are doing well, or how it is having an impact,” explained Ireland. She added that vague or generic feedback doesn’t encourage employee development, because you’re leaving it up to employees to guess what they’re doing right.
“It makes much more sense to be descriptive and take the time to articulate what someone is doing well so that they can continue to exhibit this behavior,” Ireland added. Here’s what that can look like in practice.
Ineffective positive employee feedback looks like this:
“You’re a natural at this!”
Why this doesn’t work: Spurling noted that this feedback focuses on an employee’s inherent talent, not the effort and actions that led to their success. “It doesn’t provide specific details about what the employee did well, which can be unhelpful for their growth and development,” she explains.
“This kind of vague feedback also implies that success is down to innate ability, rather than hard work,” added Spurling. Over time, this can discourage continuous improvement because employees simply don’t know what they should be doing differently.
Effective positive employee feedback looks like this:
“Your ability to analyze the data and present clear, actionable insights during the meeting was impressive. Your thorough preparation and attention to detail really made a difference.”
Why this works: Constructive feedback like this is specific and action-based, explained Spurling. “It highlights the positive impact of the employee’s actions and encourages them to continue their effective behaviors.”
For more inspiration on feedback that works, read 55 Effective Performance Review Phrases to Use — and Which Ones to Avoid.
Creating Effective Positive Feedback: Advice From the Experts
Sadly, there’s no magic formula for effective positive feedback. But following the expert recommendations we’ve outlined below improves your chances of creating comments that genuinely help employees feel recognized at work.
Practice empathy.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what makes employee recognition and feedback work — there’s something else that needs to come first: empathy. “Without care, the feedback won’t land, because it doesn’t feel genuine,” explained Lisa Sansom, positive interventionist and professional certified coach. “We need to allow empathy and caring to come out at work,” she added.
There's not a one-size-fits-all formula for developing empathy in the workplace, but managers can focus on creating a supportive team where everyone feels able to share their thoughts and experiences.
Deliver feedback as soon as possible.
Don’t save positive feedback for monthly one-on-ones or annual employee performance reviews. Instead, strike while the thought is hot!
Some employees may feel anxious when performance review season rolls around because they don’t know what to expect. But Sansom notes that during these conversations, there should be no surprises. “They [the employee] should expect everything because it’s already been talked about.”
For this to happen, managers need to focus on making informal, regular feedback part of the everyday. This could look like recognizing a team member's efforts by praising them in a group Slack channel, giving shout-outs at weekly meetings, or remembering to give each team member regular moments of micro-feedback when they go the extra mile.
Focus on action and effort, not traits.
Effective positive feedback focuses on the specific action or effort of an employee, not personality traits. Why? “It can be detrimental to focus positive feedback on someone’s traits or character, as this can encourage a fixed mindset,” explained Ireland. “If that person goes on to make a mistake or not perform to expectations in the future, it can really damage their psyche and confidence because they associate the feedback with their identity,” she added.
Instead, feedback in the work environment should be based on action and effort. “To enable a growth mindset, it’s better to focus on the behaviors and effort invested as these can then be adjusted where needed, rather than expecting someone to change their identity or character — something they would have developed from an early age,” said Ireland.
Deliver specific examples of what went well.
For impactful, effective feedback, managers need to make sure it includes specific examples. This helps add the kind of context that employees need to link action with effect. Being specific also shows your entire team that you’re paying attention.
Sansom recommends that managers proactively look for something each team member is doing well, and then mention this to them. Maybe they learned new skills, put in extra effort for a project, or hit a specific workplace milestone.
Then, link any feedback with examples of an action they took. For example, you could note how signing up for training and working with a mentor helped an employee develop the competencies they needed to get promoted.
Tailor feedback to the individual.
What works for one employee won’t always work for another — so managers need to tailor their feedback, and its delivery, to each member of their team. And with research from Gallup showing that managers have a major impact on the employee experience and employee engagement, taking the time to uncover employee feedback preferences like this is critical.
“Not everybody likes receiving positive feedback in public, and some people get embarrassed,” explained Sansom. That means sometimes, this feedback is better delivered in a private email, not a group Slack channel. The frequency of feedback also needs to be adjusted depending on where an employee is in their career: “Employees need more feedback when they’re new hires, or inexperienced,” said Sansom.
Aim for three positives for every negative.
Negative feedback in the workplace (and life) is to be expected, but managers should aim for a 3-to-1 ratio of positive to negative feedback. Research from psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, suggests that this “positivity ratio” can help individuals flourish.
You’ve probably also heard of the “feedback sandwich” method where negative feedback is sandwiched between two positive feedback statements. But Sansom noted that this method isn’t effective. “All the person takes away is the negative,” she explained. When negative or constructive criticism is needed, deliver it separately from any positive feedback if possible.
Designing an Effective Feedback Culture in Your Organization
“It’s widely known now that feedback should be part of everyday conversations,” said Ireland. This means rather than leaving praise for annual performance reviews, an effective feedback culture embeds praise and feedback into the everyday.
Ireland added that leaders have a huge role to play in encouraging others to be open to feedback. To achieve this, they need to model the positive behavior they want others to exhibit. “For example, senior leaders should regularly ask for feedback from others, including direct reports. They need to demonstrate that they are acting on that feedback to be even better,” she explained.
Ireland added that by modeling this behavior and working on their communication skills, leaders can make the exchange of feedback a normal part of work. Eventually, this then becomes part of your company culture.
Embedding regular positive feedback into your company culture in this way might feel like a lot, but the right HR tech makes it easy to celebrate wins and recognize your team’s performance.
Partner with Lattice to improve positive employee feedback.
It’s no coincidence that high-performing HR teams are more likely to invest in and use specialized HR tech; they recognize the boost that these powerful, integrated tools can give. HR tools are also one of the best ways to embed regular feedback into the employee experience — and measure the impact this feedback can have on the performance of individual employees and the organization as a whole.
Here’s how Lattice can help improve feedback processes for organizations of all sizes:
- Lattice Performance helps managers identify areas of improvement so they can adapt their feedback style to better fit their team’s preferences. Over time, this can improve employee morale and boost retention.
- Lattice Engagement gathers real-time data about how employees feel at work, helping HR teams and managers pinpoint how to improve feedback processes.
- Lattice Praise allows appreciation and positive feedback to be shared in a variety of ways, like as a Slack shout-out, individual email, or within the Lattice platform. This is also a great way to encourage peer-to-peer recognition, which has been shown to improve team bonding and motivation.
Ready to harness the power of positivite feedback? Book a demo and find out how Lattice can help.
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