A team member misses a deadline. Another one hesitates to speak up in meetings. A promising engineer stays stuck at the same level for over a year.
You give them feedback: “Communicate better.” “Take more initiative.” “Own your work.” They nod. But nothing changes.
The problem isn’t that they don’t want to improve. It’s that the feedback isn’t actionable. It points to the outcome, not the behavior. And it tells them what’s missing, not what to improve.
If teams want to build fundamental skills, technical or soft, feedback needs to be specific, behavioral, and tied to development. It also needs to be grounded in how people actually grow.
As Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck explains in her research on motivation and learning, feedback that rewards “natural talent” can unintentionally reinforce a fixed mindset, the belief that abilities are innate and unchangeable.
To support real growth, feedback should reinforce a growth mindset, the idea that skills are developed through effort, strategies, and continuous input, not just something you either have or don’t.
In this article, we’ll break down what constructive feedback looks like, how to apply it to real tech roles, and how to build a culture that uses feedback to grow people, not just evaluate them.
What makes feedback constructive (and what doesn’t)
Not all feedback is helpful, even when it’s well-intentioned. Praise can feel empty. Criticism can feel personal. And vague suggestions often leave people guessing.
So, what separates constructive feedback from the rest?
✅ Constructive feedback is:
- Behavior-based → focuses on what someone did, not who they are.
- Specific → avoids generalities like “be more proactive” and points to real examples.
- Actionable → shows a path forward: what to continue, improve, or try differently.
- Contextual → considers the person’s role, level, and growth goals.
- Timely → given close enough to the event to be relevant and useful.
❌ What it’s not:
- A personality judgment (“You’re not a leader”).
- A vague label (“You need to be sharper”).
- A generic compliment (“You’re doing great”).
Constructive feedback shifts the focus from evaluation to development. It helps the person understand what’s working, what’s next, and how to get there without making it about their worth or potential.
The psychology behind it: growth mindset vs fixed mindset
Most managers want to give helpful feedback. But the way it’s framed can either push someone forward or shut them down. And feedback only works when people believe they CAN improve, not when they think their ability is fixed.
This distinction is central to the work of Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist known for decades of research on learning, motivation, and human development. Her work introduced the now widely used concepts of growth mindset and fixed mindset.
Fixed mindset: if you believe your qualities are fixed, such as intelligence or talent, you’ll avoid challenges, give up easily, and perceive feedback as a personal attack.
People with a fixed mindset tend to treat feedback as a judgment of their worth. It makes them defensive or disengaged, especially in high-performance environments.
Growth mindset: in a growth mindset, people believe they can develop abilities through effort, good strategies, and input from others.
“A growth mindset is about believing people can develop their abilities. It’s that simple.” Carol Dweck
Why this matters for your team
If feedback sounds like a label or judgment, it can reinforce a fixed mindset. But reframing it as “Here’s what’s working and how to build on it” supports development.
- ✅ Shift from “You’re not a leader” to
→ “When you spoke up in the meeting, your structure helped us steer the conversation. Let’s work on stepping in earlier next time.”
- ✅Shift from “You aren’t ready for promotion” to
→ “To qualify for the next level, you’ll need to lead a small cross-functional project. Let’s set one up in Q2.”
Hear Carol Dweck explain it here.
Practical shift: feedback that supports growth
Dweck emphasizes process-based praise rather than character praise.
Process-based feedback focuses on the strategies, decisions, and effort someone used to solve a problem, while character-based praise labels the person, such as calling them “smart” or “naturally talented.”
Instead of “You’re so talented,” try “I noticed how you broke that problem into smaller steps; that strategy helped move things forward.”
Avoid generic effort praise: “Good job trying” isn’t always enough. Better feedback highlights strategy, progress, and next steps.
With this mindset-aware foundation in place, your feedback becomes a tool for growth because it reinforces behaviors that can be repeated, improved, and scaled. That’s how teams build real capability, not just reward perceived potential.
Constructive feedback examples that actually move people forward
Telling someone to “be more proactive” or “work on communication” doesn’t help them improve. Honest feedback is specific. It identifies the behavior, explains its impact, and provides a path forward.
However, shifting to this kind of feedback isn’t always easy, especially in fast-paced environments where managers need to respond quickly. It’s hard to translate vague impressions into clear, actionable language in the moment.
How to say it? Specific feedback phrases that help your team grow
Providing clear, actionable feedback in real-time is not easy, especially when pressure is high and problems are complex. Most managers know what’s missing, but not how to say it in a way that actually helps. It’s hard to find the right words on the spot, especially when you want to support someone’s growth without sounding vague or personal.
That’s why feedback needs more than good intentions; it needs language. Below are examples you can adapt for common team scenarios, framed to reinforce growth, not just evaluate performance.
✅ When someone flags a risk early, but stops there
“You flagged a risk before it became a problem; that’s the kind of thinking that prevents delays.”
→ “Next time, try surfacing that in the team planning session. Even a quick Slack note can help us move faster.”
✅ When someone gives strong input, but too late
“Your point in retro helped reframe the issue, and it shifted how we viewed the whole sprint.”
→ “Let’s try to bring up those kinds of observations earlier. For example, during daily check-ins, so they can actually shape decisions, not just show up in retrospectives.”
✅ When someone supports others informally
“You helped the new hire get unstuck twice this week without being asked. That shows initiative and care.”
→ “Next sprint, take full ownership of one onboarding task. It’s a good step toward mentoring and team leadership.”
✅ When feedback is clear, but comes off as harsh
“You raised a real blocker, and it helped get us back on track.”
→ “Next time, try focusing on the problem, not who caused it, that helps others respond without feeling blamed.”
✅ When work is solid, but lacks visibility
“Your research saved us hours, even though it happened behind the scenes.”
→ “Let’s make that kind of effort more visible. A short update in Slack can help the whole team learn from what you did.”
These examples go beyond generic labels like “take ownership” or “communicate better.” They ground feedback in behavior, provide a next step, and reinforce the belief that skills grow through action, not assumptions about talent.
How to embed constructive feedback into team culture
Providing constructive feedback once a year won’t make much of a difference. What actually drives growth is consistency. When feedback becomes part of how a team works, not just how it evaluates, people start improving between review cycles, not just during them.
Here’s how to make that happen:
1. Don’t wait for the performance review
If feedback occurs only once or twice a year, it becomes high-stakes and often vague. Instead, normalize giving feedback during projects, retros, 1-on-1s, and even Slack threads.
Regular feedback lowers defensiveness. It becomes part of how teams learn, not a surprise.
💡 According to Gallup, 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback on a weekly basis report being fully engaged at work.
When feedback becomes part of weekly routines, not rare events, people stop treating it as a threat. It becomes part of how teams improve, not just how they’re judged.
2. Make feedback observable and role-based
Don’t frame it around personal traits (“You’re confident,” “You lack leadership”). Tie it to behaviors and role expectations:
- “This aligned well with the expectations for L4.”
- “This shows readiness to take on cross-functional ownership.”
- “This level of initiative is exactly what we expect from a lead role.”
This connects feedback to career development, not just evaluation.
3. Use shared language
If every manager defines “ownership” differently, feedback becomes noise. Use a common vocabulary tied to your leveling framework. This enables teams to understand what “good” looks like at each level and how to achieve growth.
4. Close the loop with action
Feedback without a follow-up is just a comment. To make it meaningful, link it to what happens next.
Use 360 feedback to shape development goals, guide upcoming projects, or inform next steps in 1-on-1s. Then return to it next week, next sprint, or next quarter, and check what’s changed.
Feedback is only valuable when it drives action. Otherwise, it’s just noise.
How Netflix uses feedback to reinforce a culture of candor
At Netflix, feedback isn’t a side process; it’s a core part of how the company operates.
Their entire performance philosophy is built around honesty, responsibility, and continuous growth. As stated in their official Culture Memo: “We embrace feedback. We give and receive feedback openly, frequently, and respectfully.”
This feedback happens informally and often, not just during performance cycles. Employees are expected to share direct input with peers and managers whenever it helps improve the work.
Netflix calls this “constructive candor”:
- Feedback is clear, not softened.
- It’s timely, close to the behavior.
- It’s action-focused on helping the person improve.
There are no formal performance ratings or forced calibration meetings. Instead, the company relies on trust, transparency, and open conversations to help people grow and to know when it's time to part ways.
Their feedback model is deeply tied to ownership: everyone is responsible for improving the work, not just managers or leads. That only works because feedback isn’t rare but expected.
This kind of culture doesn’t happen by accident. It requires clarity, shared values, and consistent feedback habits.
How Kadar helps managers give feedback that drives growth
Most teams recognize that feedback matters, but few have a system in place to support it.
That’s where Kadar comes in. It’s built for teams that want structured, skill-based feedback that leads to real improvement, not just a rating at the end of the quarter.
Here’s how Kadar helps managers move beyond vague advice and into actionable development:
- 360° input in one view
See how the employees rate themselves, how peers see them, and how the manager evaluates them, all side by side. No guesswork about what’s missing.
- Action plans tied to feedback
Each piece of input can be linked to a development goal, tracked over time, and revisited in 1-on-1s.
- Feedback linked to levels
Feedback is mapped to your leveling framework, so “good communication” isn’t vague. It’s defined, contextual, and linked to career progression.
Build the habit, not just the system
You don’t need more feedback forms. You need a habit of clear, timely, and specific conversations that move people forward.
When feedback is an integral part of how a team operates, not just how it evaluates, skill growth becomes visible. People know what’s expected. Progress is trackable. And performance isn’t a surprise; it’s a pattern.
Kadar helps you build that habit with the structure to make it stick.
