How do you feel when you have to give feedback? Providing constructive feedback to staff is part of being a supervisor. Thoughtful, respectful feedback helps employees build their skills, be more effective in their roles, and feel valued for their contributions to the organization’s mission. Giving feedback to employees isn’t easy. Some employees are open, ready to receive and receptive to the change, while others may show resistance or perhaps the employee wasn’t set up for success when they started the role. There are many factors that contribute to how employees receive feedback.
Why Constructive Feedback Matters
Nonprofit staff are often driven by the desire to serve communities and advance causes they believe in. Feedback plays a critical role in helping them understand how their day-to-day actions support the bigger picture. When done correctly, feedback can:
Encourage Professional Growth: Showing employees where they can improve helps them develop new skills and confidence.
Boost Morale: When people see their contributions recognized, they feel more valued and motivated.
Align Efforts With the Mission: Constructive feedback helps staff connect their tasks with the organization’s goals, ensuring that everyone is moving in the same direction.
Example: If a program coordinator consistently struggles with time management and misses deadlines, feedback can highlight this issue and suggest strategies—like using project management tools or setting early internal deadlines—to help them succeed. Teach them how to use the tool via training videos and set clear expectations of how the tool should be used.
General Tips for Giving Constructive Feedback
Be Specific: Instead of saying, “Your reports need work,” point to exact areas: “Your recent volunteer reports lack details on participant engagement. Including examples or statistics would make them more useful.”
Keep It Timely: Provide feedback soon after the event or behavior you’re addressing. Fresh information is more meaningful and easier to act upon.
Focus on the Action, Not the Person: Highlight what needs changing, not what’s wrong with the individual. For example, say, “This section of the grant proposal could be clearer,” rather than “You’re not a clear writer.”
Offer Solutions: Suggest practical next steps or resources. Don’t just point out problems; guide employees toward improvement. Offer two to three solutions or steps an employee can take to improve.
End on a Positive Note: Reinforce what they’re doing well and express confidence in their ability to improve.
Giving Feedback to Staff Who Are Receptive
Some employees genuinely appreciate feedback and use it as a launchpad for growth. To make the most of their openness:
Acknowledge Their Efforts: Start by thanking them for their hard work, reinforcing that you notice and value their contributions.
Challenge Them Further: Since they are open to feedback, you can push them a bit more. Encourage them to take on a new responsibility or learn a new skill.
Set Clear Goals: Receptive individuals often appreciate knowing exactly what targets to aim for. Lay out specific milestones or improvements you’d like to see.
Example (for receptive staff): “You’ve done a fantastic job coordinating our after-school tutoring sessions. Let’s take it to the next level by tracking attendance patterns and adjusting our schedule. I think your organizational skills will help us reach even more students.”
Providing Feedback to Staff Who Push Back
Not all employees welcome feedback easily. Some may become defensive, argue the point, or seem unmotivated to change. In these cases:
Stay Calm and Respectful: Remain patient if they react negatively. Listen to their concerns and acknowledge their feelings before restating your point.
Emphasize the Mission: Remind them that any suggested improvements aim to better serve the organization’s purpose and the community.
Use Evidence and Examples: Support your feedback with clear examples and, if applicable, data. This reduces the chance they’ll see it as merely an opinion.
Invite Their Input: Ask how they think the issue can be resolved. Involving them in the solution can reduce resistance.
Example (for resistant staff): “I understand you feel that the outreach calls take too long because of our detailed script. The reason we created that script is to make sure we’re giving potential donors a clear, consistent message. What ideas do you have to shorten the process without losing important information?”
Handling Tough Feedback Situations
When providing feedback on more sensitive matters, the right approach can prevent tensions from escalating:
Choose the Right Setting: Have the conversation privately, not in front of the entire team.
Use a Neutral Tone: Stick to the facts. Avoid a scolding tone and instead focus on what can be improved.
Acknowledge Positive Intentions: If the employee meant well but struggled with execution, recognize their intentions before pointing out what went wrong.
Be Prepared for Emotions: If emotions run high, give the person time to absorb the feedback. Consider scheduling a follow-up discussion once they’ve had time to reflect.
Example (tough situation): “You did a great job addressing the situation with the volunteer who had been rude to other volunteers during shifts. By handling the matter privately and maintaining a sense of calm, you demonstrated respect and the organizational culture we are striving to create. Your approach likely helped de-escalate the situation, which is a strong asset to our team.”
Constructive Feedback: “One area for improvement could be setting clearer expectations for volunteer behavior during the conversation. Explicitly state the standards we expect from all volunteers and outlining potential next steps if the behavior continues which would then reinforce our policies and provide clarity. This will ensure the volunteer understands the importance of adhering to organizational values and the consequences of failing to do so.”
Following Up on Feedback
Feedback isn’t a one-and-done event. To ensure lasting improvement:
Check In Later: Schedule a brief follow-up meeting or send a quick message to see if they found your suggestions helpful.
Recognize Improvements: If you see changes in their performance, acknowledge them promptly. Positive reinforcement encourages further growth.
Adjust as Needed: If the initial suggestions didn’t solve the issue, revisit the conversation and explore new strategies.
Example (follow-up): “I noticed you’ve been using the time-tracking tool, and your project deadlines are now on schedule. Thank you for incorporating the feedback into your day to day work process, it is making a real difference in our team’s efficiency.”
Conclusion
Providing constructive feedback in a nonprofit setting isn’t just about pointing out mistakes—it’s about guiding staff toward reaching their full potential in service of the mission. By being clear, respectful, and solution-focused, you can help both receptive and resistant employees grow. Over time, your nonprofit will benefit from a stronger, more capable team working together to make a positive impact.
Recommended Trainings:
Effective staff management is essential to completing work and employee satisfaction and retention. Managing staff isn’t easy with employees that work hybrid or virtual, off site at programs or are transitioning back to the office. Whether you are new to the role or are a supervisor with extensive knowledge, there is a need to understand how to use systems to communicate, create clarity around expectations, tasks and job performance. As a supervisor, there is a balance between micro-managing and believing in the skills of your employees for why you hired them in their roles. This workshop will dive into supervision strategies including span of control, performance, project monitoring, feedback, supervision methods and how to build a high-performing team.
This interactive series will provide strategies for developing structured orientation programs, employee training plans, and onboarding processes that ensure a smooth transition into new roles from program manager, fundraising staff or leadership. You’ll learn how to design seamless orientation, role-specific training and an onboarding roadmap to support staff throughout the first 90 days. We'll cover best practices for creating orientation materials, customizing training for different positions, and setting up effective feedback loops to measure success. Whether you're hiring 1 or 50 employees or building your onboarding program from scratch or improving an existing one, this workshop will give you the tools to streamline the process and make a lasting impact.
This workshop will cover how to use trauma informed facilitation practices to plan, create and design. Using trauma informed principles of facilitation, we will cover the structure and format of facilitated experience, review how to create an agenda, design a facilitated experience, and how to handle disclosures, disruptions, and other facilitation challenges. This workshop is for facilitators and trainers who lead community-based conversations with adults where difficult topics may arise or in-depth discussions may occur.
In this series workshop, participants will explore the role of empathy in preventing re-traumatization when working with clients, volunteers, community and staff. Re-traumatization occurs when individuals encounter triggers—such as situations, words, or environments—that remind them of previous traumatic experiences. These triggers can reignite emotional and psychological responses associated with the original trauma, which may cause overwhelming feelings of fear, anxiety, helplessness, or even physical reactions. The impact of re-traumatization can vary. It may result in emotional distress, a sense of being unsafe, and difficulty in regulating emotions, making it challenging for individuals to engage fully in the present moment or continue with everyday tasks.
In this workshop, we discuss how to lead engaging small group exercises and practice methods for managing participants. We cover adult learning theory and practices, ways to make mandatory training fun, engaged learning, how to design for equity, how to support participants and building your trainer toolkit.