Start-Stop-Keep: Redefining Feedback in Management

Effective management involves balancing appreciation and constructive feedback. While praising your team may come naturally, providing criticism may often feel like walking on thin ice. However, providing clear and actionable feedback is essential for growth and improvement. Managers should hone their skills and offer feedback in a way that is constructive and timely. A very simple but useful framework for giving feedback effectively is the Start-Stop-Keep-doing or Start-Stop-Continue tool.

Mastering the Art of Feedback with the ‘Start-Stop-Keep-doing’ Model

The Start-Stop-Continue approach attempts to find answers to the following three questions:

• What should we start doing? (What could work better?)

• What should we stop doing? (What doesn't work?)

• What should we continue to do? (Which current practices bring the most results?)

Setting up Your Start, Stop, and Keep-doing Session

Employees often recognize their pain points but feel too busy to address them. This might be due to a lack of authority, resources, or a full understanding of the impact, or simply because they haven't prioritized it.

A "Start, Stop, Keep-Doing" session can help managers uncover these issues and make feedback more productive. 

Start

The best place to start is, of course, the Start bucket. Ask your team which ideas make the most sense to implement. Given the current climate in the office, are the conditions right to move forward with a new process, initiative, or activity? Now is the time to chart a new course to gain ground in areas where you know there are opportunities.

Consider asking the following leading questions:

• If money were not a constraint, where would you put your money?

• Imagine a new team member on board. What task would you delegate to this person if every existing task was already assigned?

The result: New ideas and approaches that haven’t been started or considered before are brought to the table.

Stop

What needs to stop? Is something taking up a lot of the team's time for very little ROI? Identifying and eliminating activities that distract the team from its core purpose can be a breath of fresh air. If you find that a process needs to be changed or that a particular aspect of how you're doing something is causing undue stress, that's another candidate for discussion in the Stop phase.

The ability to stop something makes space for other worthy pursuits. Remember, however, that when you stop something, you need to consider who else in the company may be affected by your decision. If you find that what you're trying to stop affects people in another department, you should consult with them about why you want to do it and really consider their perspective before you rush ahead with your decision.

For this section, some questions to get you started are:

• Suppose your workday is to be an hour short. Then, which jobs/activities can be eliminated from the working day?

• What kind of work do you subconsciously—and frequently—load at the bottom of the priority list?

• Have you ever noticed an area of your work that always gets put off to the next day or even the next month? What is it, and why is it so easy and inconsequential to put it off until later?

Keep-doing

This section provides an opportunity for your team to identify areas that they believe contribute positively to your business's success. These activities should be life-giving, sustaining the effort needed to continue achieving your goals.

Keep the conversation going by asking:

• Which areas are creating the most value for your customers?

• What responsibilities do you find most personally fulfilling?

• Is there a culture-defining activity that you should continue?

Any kind of relationship can reap the benefits of a Stop, Start, Continue framework. In an organizational context, peers can use the framework to learn how to better serve each other's needs. For example, department managers can use it to discuss how to avoid the common silo mentality that can kill performance. You can even add another element: change. A process may be delivering results, but it could benefit from minor changes. An open dialogue can help identify the necessary changes.

Keep Workplace Dialogue on a Productive Path

Feedback serves as a great growth and development tool in the world of professional development. It helps employees gain insight into their performance while paving the path for improvement. When done right, it can inspire growth, increase motivation, and drive positive organizational change.

By creating a culture of continuous feedback and using effective communication techniques such as the Start-Stop-Keep-doing framework, you can provide feedback that empowers employees rather than demotivates them. This proactive style lays the ground for establishing more friendly and productive communication.