Feedback

Feedback is how we get better. Not feedback as a performance management ritual - feedback as a real conversation about what's working and what isn't, given early enough to be useful.

The default is direct

At Hardal, we say things directly. If you see something that could be better, you say so. If someone's work isn't landing, you tell them before it becomes a bigger problem.

Direct doesn't mean harsh. It means clear, specific, and in good faith. The goal is always to help the person and the team improve - not to win an argument or demonstrate superiority.

If you're softening feedback to the point where the person can't act on it, you're not being kind. You're being conflict-avoidant.

When to give feedback

Don't save it for a review. If something happens on a Tuesday that deserves feedback, give it on Tuesday - or at the latest in your next 1:1. Feedback gets harder to give and less useful the more time passes.

Give feedback when:

• You see work that could be significantly better
• You notice a pattern in how someone communicates or works that's creating friction
• Someone did something really well and you want to reinforce it
• You have concerns about a decision before it gets locked in

How to give useful feedback

Be specific. "Your communication could be clearer" is hard to act on. "In yesterday's customer call, you answered the technical question before understanding what the customer actually needed" is something you can work with.

Focus on behavior, not character. "You interrupted the customer three times during the demo" is feedback. "You're impatient" is a character judgment. One is actionable; the other puts people on the defensive.

Connect it to the outcome. Why does it matter? "When the proposal is vague, we lose deals that should be winnable" helps the person understand the stakes.

Positive feedback counts. Tell people when they do something well - not as a preamble to the "real" feedback, but as genuine acknowledgment. People need to know what to keep doing as much as what to change.

How to receive feedback

Assume good faith. The person giving you feedback is trying to help you. Even if they're not doing it perfectly, try to hear the thing underneath the delivery.

Don't defend reflexively. You can ask for examples or clarification. But "let me explain why I did it that way" as a first response usually means you're not actually listening.

You don't have to agree. But you have to engage. "I'll think about that" and then do nothing isn't a response - it's a polite way of dismissing the feedback.

Thank people who give you hard feedback. It takes more effort to say something difficult than to stay quiet.

Feedback during offsites

We run structured 360-degree feedback sessions at company offsites. Every person gives feedback to every other person. This isn't about building a case - it's about getting a real picture of how you're showing up to the people around you.

Prepare in advance. Think about what each person does well and where you see room to grow. The sessions work because people put in the effort beforehand.

What's said in these sessions stays with the people in the room. You're not obligated to share your feedback with people who weren't present.

Feedback up the chain

We expect feedback to flow in every direction, including upward. If you think a founder or manager is making a mistake, say so. We'd rather hear it from you than find out later that everyone saw it coming.

The easiest way to give feedback upward: direct message, or bring it up in your 1:1. You don't need a formal process.