Feedback Strategies

In the first article I read on feedback, Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback, I learned what the concept of feedforward was. Instead of focusing on what was in the past and how to change what was already done, feedforward is based on giving suggestions on how to do better next time. This takes the person providing people with feedback a way out of the position of being an expert, and instead puts them in a place where they can help their fellow team members with useful advice for the future. I want to try this strategy with my team members. I am a team lead, and I have found that I am not often the most precise at giving effective feedback. I think using feedforward will change my feedback from what they take as judgement into a hopefully positive learning experience. I do get hung up on what they messed up on in the past because I know I have to go back and fix it, but with this method, maybe I can help correct their choices before we have a bad outcome.

What I learned from How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk was how to provide useful feedback. I often give feedback after I find something wrong. I do not often ask if they want feedback, so in that way I do not put the ball in their court. I feel with this way, I may come across as if I am just constantly judging those people on my team. I have a quite expressive face, so I believe that they have mentioned that they do not want to see the disappointment on my face when they mess up. By following the listed steps, I can probably improve my constructive feedback process with my team members. I can give them the why, put myself on a more level playing field with them, ask them if they want to hear it, and be honest with them. This honest approach will help give a why, how, and hopefully give them a reason to want to improve on their own.

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Feedback Thoughts

Feedback can often be a critical tool in progressing and growing as an individual. If there is no feedback, then there is often a lack of an outside perspective which is helpful in knowing what cannot be seen normally. In Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head, feedback is addressed as a useful way to learn how to be a better leader. This article expanded on how many people most often only address negative feedback as they see this part as the most important. I believe people do this because they think the positive aspects of their behavior that was mentioned is something they have already mastered and, therefore, do not have to work on in the future. What this leads to is only having the negative parts to focus their attention on for improvement. While this can be meaningful, I think the article brought up a valid point that people should not just brush aside the positive comments. There are pros and cons to essentially everything in life. Focusing on the positive every once in a while can become a refreshing exercise to those that constantly feel overwhelmed with the negative parts of life.

Overcoming the mind is a challenging task for those that have not already achieved it. Those who still experience struggles and new difficulties in life each day are especially prone to doubt themselves when attempting to do something new. In Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work, the author details ways to try and circumvent the self-doubt many people may feel. The author brings up how people should abandon perfectionism which can be useful because trying to be perfect can negatively affect your performance and mood. Trying to be perfect is a nearly impossible standard and those who try to meet it can often find themselves unhappy with their life situations or will refrain from attempting new skills to avoid being bad at something. This happens to me in my own life, and I hope to one day get past the perfectionism I feel is necessary to achieve everything I want to in life. Once I fully believe that making mistakes is an acceptable part of the process of learning, and not something to be punished for, I believe I will be more willing to learn about subjects that do not initially capture my interest.

In general, I have learned from constructive criticism the most when their is a clear list of what I did wrong. I try my best to do what is right, so when I have a list of skills to work on, I have a focused way to approach what I need to improve first. My most feedback negative experience happened when I was not asking for feedback, and I was bombarded with numerous negative things with no clear advice on how to fix what was wrong. This was not helpful for me as it destroyed my motivation to want to fix anything since nothing positive was listed. Moving forward, I want to incorporate more positive feedback when evaluating myself and others. I believe this will help the learning process be less discouraging.

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