🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

Think about the last time you gave someone input on their work. Did you add your comments to a document? Send an email with your observations? Did you schedule a meeting to talk things through? How did you decide which approach to take?

💡 Concept

In remote and hybrid work, knowing how to give feedback is just as important as what you say. Some feedback works best asynchronously—like reviewing content or ideas—while other types of assessment require a live conversation, especially when nuance or emotions are involved.

Here’s how and when to give feedback effectively in both modes:

📥 Give async feedback when you want to boost clarity, efficiency, and focus.

Asynchronous feedback is ideal when you are doing the following:

• Reviewing written content, proposals, or creative assets

• Sharing suggestions on strategy or ideas

• Flagging typos, inconsistencies, or unclear phrasing

✅ Example: Comment directly in a shared doc:

“This intro is strong—what do you think about moving this paragraph up to better frame the problem?”

Use comments, Loom videos, or collaborative tools like Notion or Mural to leave thoughtful, time-stamped feedback that people can review when they have time to address or respond to your concerns.

💬 Use synchronous feedback for more complicated or emotional issues and when you need to discuss a situation more in depth.

Live conversations are better for the following situations:

• The feedback involves interpersonal dynamics or behavior.

• You’re giving constructive criticism that might be misread in writing.

• You need to clarify intent, brainstorm collaboratively, or build alignment on a task or approach.

✅ Example: If someone delivered a presentation that missed the mark, set up a 1:1:

“I’d love to debrief your presentation together. Let’s talk through what went well and where we might refine the messaging for next time.”

🛠 Choose your channel based on context, not habit.

Don’t default to meetings for everything. But don’t rely on comments alone for high-stakes feedback. Ask yourself:

• Is this feedback about the work or the person?

• Is it likely to be misunderstood without tone or context?

• Can the recipient act on this without a back-and-forth?

🤝 Close the loop.

Whether async or live, good feedback invites a response. Encourage follow-up questions, clarifications, or a brief sync if needed. The process of giving feedback isn’t done until it’s understood.

🎬 Take Action

• Review the last piece of feedback you gave. Did you choose the right channel for the situation? If not, adjust next time.

• Use comments or a recorded video to give thoughtful async feedback on a piece of content this week.

• Identify one piece of feedback you’ve been sitting on and schedule a short 1:1 to talk it through live.

• Create team norms for when to use async vs. sync feedback (e.g., “Written for content; live for interpersonal.”).

• Model both types of feedback and explain why you’re using one or the other approach—this builds shared understanding and better habits across your team.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to communicate in distributed teams in the Workplaceless Remote Work Certification program. 

✅ Check In

🎁 Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.