Fuel for Thought:The Power of Feedback!

Feedback serves as a catalyst for organisational transformation, offering valuable insights into strengths and areas needing improvement.

Embraced constructively, feedback fosters a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, driving meaningful change within the organisation. Feedback is more effective when it is timely, truthful, specific, unassuming, and positive. Feedback can also be a source of motivation and support for people.

Which feedback model do you normally default to?

Why not try something new this week. 

Appreciative Feedback: Emphasizes strengths and positive aspects of performance to reinforce desired behaviours and achievements.

Corrective Feedback: Identifies areas for improvement or correction in performance, aiming to address weaknesses or errors constructively.

Developmental Feedback: Focuses on providing guidance and support for growth and skill enhancement, nurturing individuals' professional development and potential.

I had two examples of the power of feedback this past week. 

1. “You are a brilliant singer. Well Done!”

As you know last week was a busy week, but I managed to carve out enough time to see my husband play one of his gigs. Its always nice to hear him play/sing – I’m such a groupie. 

Anyway, during a break, he came off stage and showed me a piece of paper. With a big smiling face, he turned to me and said “I needed that tonight.”

It turned out that a family visiting the area had brought their children out for some dinner. The kids had loved the music so much! They had dance, clapped and sung in that way that only kids do when they don’t know what embarrassing is. They were so impressed that just before they left the little girl handed my husband a note. (I love the Well Done! & 3 ticks.)

He was so proud of the note. It really did make his day. 

What a wonderful gift that little girl gave him. I bet her parents were also a little proud of their daughter too.  

2. Culture of feedback

Feedback also came up as a subject at a client’s off-site training day this week 

It became obvious over the course of the day that the organisation was missing the power of feedback. The lack of constructive feedback was hindering the organisation transforming. The leadership lacked confidence in giving feedback. They felt awkward, nervous, and negative about the subject. Their teams had never really experienced consistent feedback (positive or negative) so they weren’t use to it either.

A culture of avoiding conflict was established and I have to say, people were a little blind to what was really happening in the organisation. They didn’t grasp the reality (warts and all) of their current position.  Reflecting on our session and my feedback to them, the leadership team decided feedback was too important to ignore for much longer. So they to get some training and committed to improving the activity.

I’m going to help them make this happen but if you want some additional information on feedback models, hints and tips on how to develop a culture of feedback etc – just email me I’d be happy to help you too. 

When was the last time you gave someone feedback? How consistent are you?

What do you need to give someone in terms of feedback? 

How can you make someone’s day by feedback on something they are brilliant at? 

How can we make feedback a more positive experience for everyone. 

I personally love getting feedback. I think it’s so important for our growth. Its like gold dust to me. 

So come on guys, give me your feedback. We have recently changed the #weeklyNRG and we want to know if we are hitting the mark for you.