Should you give feedback to your employees verbally, or in writing? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. In order for feedback to land effectively, you need to consider which delivery method will work best for the context, audience, and goals of your specific situation.

Give written feedback when:

* You have time to do it right. Take time to read it over—checking for content, tone, and typos—and make sure that you’re happy with it as a permanent record of your management.

* You want to reinforce or capture what’s been said in a conversation. When providing instructions, next steps, best practices, or other information that your employee will reference again in their work, put it in writing.

* You want to give the other person time to process first.You might even add reflective questions at the end of your evaluations to facilitate conversation.

Give spoken feedback when:

* Your input is more complex. Taking time to have a conversation will likely yield better results when your feedback could evolve or change depending on input from the other person.

* There are difficult emotions involved. When someone reads negative feedback, they may react more strongly than if they hear it directly from you.

* Your goal is to repair or strengthen the relationship.When you take time to listen to the other person’s perspective and work together to find solutions, you can end up coming to a place of deeper mutual understanding.
This tip is adapted from “When to Give Verbal Feedback—and When to Do It in Writing,” by Sarah Gershman and Casey Mank
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