Explore the world of feedback!
What does effective feedback look like?
Is that picture a dream? Shot for reels or for real?
In practice, do we give & receive feedback or something else?
More often than not, why does feedback leave a sour taste between the entities involved in the process of gathering & sharing feedback?
Essentially, how can we make the feedback work for everyone involved with the least friction? How can we make the feedback useful and its process not turn back on either party involved?
No matter how good an intention behind sharing/receiving/practicing the feedback one holds, it has a high potential of landing badly, ineffective & hostile! The acting drivers behind these are a combination of many things discussed throughout this blog but let's start with fundamentals.
What does a good feedback entail?
More often the feedback is not necessarily as we all think it is. I.e. Feedback is an open & collaborative exchange of neutrally balanced perspectives, acknowledgment, encouragement, expectations & goal alignment, with a support plan.
What are the merits of receiving feedback?
Feedback facilitates conducive professional & personal growth.
It can assist in increasing your contribution's impact radius by understanding a wider perspective from the community or your environment.
It can help in exploring one's blind spots.
Against a contrary belief, it can prove to be a mechanism to build & maintain professional working relationships, induce a collaborative spirit & growth-centric support network.
Incrementally deriving meaning along with any progress.
How is feedback perceived in reality?
In reality, more often the feedback takes negative connotations when it's poorly sourced, crafted, consolidated, presented, and supported. Such feedback falls within a continuum of things (presented in the increasing degree of negative connotation & effects it produces) that reflect an understanding of terms interchangeably used to present feedback.
Observation = Stating facts
Judgment = Analysing facts to result in a named tag
Fault-Finding = Analysing facts + Microscopic analysis + Unsolicited, irrelevant, boundariless advisory
Evaluations = Fault-Finding and/or Judgements + Rating an Individual (not capabilities)
Criticism = Fault-Finding and/or Judgements + Subjective opinions containing rigidity (MUSTs and SHOULDs)
Which factors incept negative continuum & what can be done about it?
When we need the feedback process to work with the least friction, what causes the friction is the lack of defined standards, clarity, and preparation around facets including the feedback facilitator, receiver, content, process, work dynamics, and more. To make the feedback process more helpful & useful, the entities involved in the process must practice enough preparation including truthful reflection on the below questions regarding the "feedback", before deciding to share and/or deliberate on shared feedback.
Is it true? Does it represent a unified observation or individual perspective/opinions? Do This: Define clearly the source & consolidation criterion to keep the objectivity of the feedback intact for most parts. Any form of observations, perspectives, and evaluations are kept to support the growth of the professional primarily followed by customer & business (not the other way around). Yes, this is the biggest differentiating line of thought; The feedback is about the professional eventually getting linked to goals and not about goals linking to the professional.
Is it necessary? Does it serve a larger goal for a person, team, business group, or organization? Do This: Define clearly the short-mid-long term goal it serves.
Is it going to be helpful? Is there a scope for triggering a conducive change? Do This: Define a clear change process with support offered.
Is it curated well? Thoughtful, quality, collaborative consolidation of perspectives aligned to both, the goal of feedback and the feedback-sharing process! Do This: Define a clear path to skill every entity involved, to consolidate & receive quality feedback. One can include making a distinction between what part of the feedback is conscious or unconscious, verbal or non-verbal, definitive or mysterious, constructive or negative, imperative or intentional, attainable or challenging, realistic or imaginary, imaginative or superfluous, adaptable & flexible or rigid, acknowledging or judging, neutral & straightforward or complicated; and striving to bring as much clarity using simple, easy-to-understand verbiage.
Is it shared appropriately? In a conducive tone, environment setting, by whom, and by which medium? Do This: Feedback shared in a neutral-balanced verbal & non-verbal tone and received with curiosity to understand & learn rather than only respond, get skilled in inviting collaboration by sharing thoughts or comments which signals the brain to share by exercising choice not by the right. Being adaptable to change in formal or semi-formal conducive settings in which feedback is shared, this space can induce calmness & promote engagement or have tools to facilitate the practice when needed. Feedback facilitator and receiver to understand the means of practicing healthy professional relationships and offering mutual safe space for collaborative discussion, being open to exploring different feedback facilitators to best fit the personality type of the feedback receiver. Identifying the most effective medium to share feedback e.g. pre-read feedback to facilitate good preparation for open discussion, hosting offline or online meeting space, and being -available -interested -present -engaging during the entire time. Identifying the tools & resources to record and follow up the necessary discussion notes & support plan in a most accessible yet non-laborious manner.
What is the biggest challenge in channeling good feedback?
While in the feedback process including the standards, involved entities' roles, support systems, and tools all play a good role in making sure that feedback is shared & received well. However, whether one has or does not have such sophistication, the biggest challenge remains human-centric.
Any unpleasant relationship shared introduces tightness to such discussions & their intent followed therein. Past unpleasant experiences can carry bitterness even with any good feedback shared.
Need to hold on to the fear of losing power, control, and status, and holding envy is a real thing. As humans are constantly in a state of danger evaluation, this can induce fear & insecurity of survival on a conservative level. In such a state, the nervous system evaluates anything that may be neutral misreading it as dangerous, rather than pleasant.
More demanding roles and increasingly high outcome expectations to meet can make us exhaust our bodily, mental & emotional resources; resulting in behaviors that can show stress practiced in various forms like entitlement, cynicism, anxiousness, criticism, judgment, etc. Changing behaviors for positive growth becomes a real need but knowing the root of such behaviors is more important to begin that growth without undue judgments!
Comparisons and competitions regarding focus on others' feedback become a matter of concern instead of staying put with one's efforts at any level being acknowledged and supported.
Mistrust due to lack of clarity in the feedback consolidation process & feedback evaluation criteria. Areas could include but are not limited to:
By what means does the shared feedback roll back in one getting recognized, acknowledged, appreciated, or promoted?
How do different roles & their outcomes integrate or separate them from each other?
What are the standards & mechanisms to factor productivity & quality into the feedback?
How are goal outcomes differentiated & measured subjected to changing situations?
What is the boundary of exercisable rights to seek support, clarity, and collaboration?
Doing everything that we can to optimize, and put our best efforts into following the feedback process may still not be enough and we may still encounter situations when feedback doesn't work. In such cases look for suggestive indicators to dive deeper, collaboratively discuss, and get creative to find alternatives. Revisiting a few of such suggestive indicators that need more attention to make the feedback process effective are:
Lack of a healthy & respectful professional relationship between the feedback facilitator & receiver. E.g. imposing hierarchy doesn't work.
Lack of a compassionate facilitator & empathetic receiver to understand the main goal of sharing feedback.
Feedback quality is challenged. Sources hold questionable credibility and the content of feedback is compromised i.e. feedback itself could be irrelevant, uninspiring, lacking in growth-based action & opportunities, and completely missing the receiver's placement & perspectives.
Feedback has turned out to be a mere process to follow rather than a tool for growth. Feedback could be pre-conceived and already acted upon. However, it proves to be a reminder but can appear a crude one. Also, the process is cumbersome, non-collaborative, and cut-throat (inhumane or excessively personal).
Lack of safe space. Narrow room for sharing feedback before and hosting an open, honest conversation to address any concerns without the fear of being punished or reprimanded unjustly. Negligible factoring of understanding the root of the concerns raised.
Lack of training & application of feedback etiquette. Lack of availability of tools & resources to preserve the confidentiality of the feedback & privacy of the receiver's concerns.
Lacking a feedback loop for a mutually agreeable or creative solution and follow-up on the workings of the solution.
Away from our will and wishes, we all inherently need and seek feedback. Feedback is one mechanism that compels us to improve ourselves & make progress in a forward-looking direction (although not preferred in many cases even if it is exercised through facets mentioned in the negative continuum of feedback). It's the essence of personal & professional growth and thereby customer & business growth. Some may argue that the way feedback is channeled has very less to do with its effectiveness. However, that's far from the truth. Humans appreciate and retain better positive relationships with their work & colleagues when the process & facets of feedback are made more adaptable and practiced compassionately. This is our biggest challenge to overcome and it carries the biggest reward. It is the single most important thing if one gets right then feedback starts to work effectively in any setting.
Have thoughts on any of these?
Do you think is there even a need for feedback?
Do you think a formalized process makes a positive difference?
Share your thoughts on how can one reinvent the process to be simple & objective without making it cumbersome and challenging.
Share your comments.
How can you strip off the noise and receive feedback constructively? Dive deeper into this topic:
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About Author:
Tejal Rathod - Tj (she/her)
Peter Drucker Management Excellence Award-Winner by the University of Oxford, UK.
eDC - elementsD Coach Professional Services
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