As part of your leadership role, you'll need to get to grips with the idea of giving feedback to others on their performance - normally as part of a performance appraisal - as well as receiving it about your own. Most people dread even the idea of it and assume that the experience will be a negative and uncomfortable one.

It doesn't have to be like that, though - feedback is, in fact, a gift. If you're giving feedback, your main motivation is usually to see people change their behaviour for the better or to help them to make the most of their potential. Feedback is rarely given maliciously and it can genuinely help others to understand how they're perceived and how they can make positive changes to influence those perceptions. Perceptions are, of course, not always reality, but they're very real in their consequences, so being aware of them will help people choose whether or not to perpetuate them.

This is something to bear in mind when you're receiving feedback yourself. As an inexperienced leader, you can feel a bit beleaguered and not as confident as usual, so you may be more likely to take well-meaning advice as criticism. Keep your perspective, though, and listen carefully to what is being said, rather having a knee-jerk reaction and imagining you'll never get it right: it's likely that there is lots of constructive advice you can take.

Steps to success

• Giving and receiving feedback doesn't have to be an uncomfortable or tense experience. See feedback for what it is: a useful way of showing people how they're perceived by others.
• if you're giving feedback to others, give yourself plenty of time to prepare. Remember to:

-- find an appropriate venue
-- make sure the reviewee is prepared and knows the scope of your discussion
-- be positive, and start the session off with some praise
-- focus on behaviour (which can be changed) rather than personality (which is unlikely to!)
-- take responsibility for what you're saying
-- be sure to follow up on any agreements made in the meeting

• Make use of 'active listening' techniques. These will make sure that you concentrate on what is being said, rather than just wait for an opportunity to speak again yourself.
• When you're receiving feedback yourself, try not to take it personally. Work is just one part of your life and feedback is very rarely given maliciously.

Remember to: