When Kindness Withholds Useful Feedback

A new Schulich School of Business report describes an online experiment with 2,620 U.S. participants acting as managers or feedback recipients. The researchers found that some managers withheld performance information; vague negative feedback was withheld more often from women than men in the reported scenario. This is experimental evidence, not proof that every workplace behaves the same way. (schulich.yorku.ca)

The growth question is not whether feedback should be blunt. It is whether people receive specific, usable information without someone else deciding they are better off not knowing. A practical safeguard: describe the observed behavior, explain its impact, and ask what decision the feedback could help the person make. Then invite their view and agree on a follow-up.

How can teams make candid feedback a shared responsibility while keeping it fair, specific, and open to challenge?