How to Get Positive Feedback From Women of Color

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Don't depend on one person to give you feedback. Your sources of fee back should be a constellation of allies, people you work with as well as your managers. When you get negative fee back, be clear. Don't say it in a defensive way, but be direct about what's happening with you. If you still get resistance, it's time for you to go to h r and say i'm not getting the kind of feedback i need to get.

Hearing your manager say you’re doing a great job is, of course, lovely. But without examples of your greatness in action, or suggestions for how to be even better, you don’t have the information you need to keep improving. Studies have found that women tend to get feedback that’s vague or tied to their personalities, which doesn’t boost our performance ratings. Meanwhile, men get feedback that’s specific and tied to business outcomes, which sets them up to develop and be promoted.

First, we talk with Harvard Business School professor Robin Ely about the research on women and feedback. Next, we talk with Tuck School of Business professor Ella Bell Smith about how to draw out actionable, useful feedback from our managers, and how to respond when we’re not getting what we need to succeed.

Our HBR reading list:

“What Most People Get Wrong About Men and Women,” by Catherine H. Tinsley and Robin J. Ely

“The Gender Gap in Feedback and Self-Perception,” by Margarita Mayo

“How Gender Bias Corrupts Performance Reviews, and What to Do About It,” by Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio

“Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back,” by Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard

Get the discussion guide for this episode on our website: hbr.org/podcasts/women-at-work

Email us: womenatwork@hbr.org

Our theme music is Matt Hill’s “City In Motion,” provided by Audio Network.