Issue #28 Receiving the feedback you don't like
Best Practices of Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback
Read time: 4 minutes
Agenda
✍️ Quote of the Week
🔅 Happy New Year - Amazing 2024 Ahead
🔮 Receiving the feedback you don't like
🌟 Weekly FREE CAPM/PMP Study Group - UPDATE
📱 MobileAPP: PM Exam Prep - CAPM 🙂
✍️ Quote of the Week
“Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not supermen. Success does not require a super-intellect. Nor is there anything mystical about success. And success isn’t based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do.""
From The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
🔅 Happy New Year - Amazing 2024 Ahead
Hey friends,
Happy New Year, and greetings from Reading UK.
2023 was a super-awesome year. I decided to be more present on LinkedIn:
Results
went from 5000 followers to 16000 followers
received 10000 profile views
my posts received 2.7 million impressions
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2619 people attended the live session, which is 27 people on average 2 x times a week
celebrated 294 success stories - passed CAPM/PMP combined
launched the Agile Admiral weekly project management newsletter which has 5400 subscribers weekly
Ola-la-la.......
I'm grateful, because people are passing the exams(CAPM/PMP) which I failed many times and grow as a professional in the field of project management.
2024 will be super-awesome.
My focus will be on delivering my mission.
"Helping 10000 people passing CAPM/PMP in 8 weeks or less"
Also, through my newsletter I will take my experience/wisdom and share with YOU.
Thank you for your support during 2023, all this achievements are the reflection of your kind feedback, comments, discussions, coffee chats, webinars, podcasts and events.
🔮 Receiving the feedback you don't like.
Is your Customer always right?
Yesterday, on one of my Project weekly status meeting our customer gave a very harsh feedback on the project status.
We jumped into counter attack.
Which was not a good idea......
I let my project manager handle the situation but in the end I "jumped" in, to bring back communication to the right track.
This is how "we" reacted after negative feedback
we become reactive and avoided to look into to the facts
we took the feedback personally
we believed, we did everything "right"
Not a great situation.
This is how we solve it:
📌 I don't like blame game so we tried to clarify what was the root cause of the problem
📌 We took a step "backwards" since feedback was not personal
📌 We stop acting that we are perfect
📌 We realised that, there is a communication problem. Internally, we believed everything is on-track but we forgot to have an open dialog with customer.
In the end, we closed the call with a positive mindset.
It was a great lesson learned.
Also, here are the Best Practices of
Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback
We are continually receiving and giving feedback, both explicitly through oral and written language, and implicitly through gestures and tone of voice. It is important to distinguish feedback from evaluation. Feedback is a formative assessment tool that uses descriptive, constructive, and nonjudgmental language. Evaluation is a summative assessment tool that judges outcomes and allows for comparison against a standard of performance.
Providing iterative feedback is preferable as this provides the recipients the opportunity to improve before participating in the next activity and before a formal evaluation. Effective feedback is achieved by establishing a positive interpersonal relationship between the person(s) providing feedback and the recipient(s) as this creates an environment that fosters development.
Receiving Feedback Effectively
Listen to the feedback given. This means not interrupting. Hear the person out, and listen to what they are really saying, not what you assume they will say. You can absorb more information if you are concentrating on listening and understanding rather than being defensive and focusing on your response.
Be aware of your responses. Your body language and tone of voice often speak louder than words. Try to avoid putting up barriers. If you look distracted and bored, that sends a negative message as well. Attentiveness, on the other hand, indicates that you value what someone has to say and puts both of you at ease.
Be open. This means being receptive to new ideas and different opinions. Often, there is more than one way of doing something and others may have a completely different viewpoint on a given topic. You may learn something worthwhile.
Understand the message. Make sure you understand what is being said to you, especially before responding to the feedback. Ask questions for clarification if necessary. Listen actively by repeating key points so that you know you have interpreted the feedback correctly. In a group environment, ask for others’ feedback before responding. As well, when possible, be explicit as to what kind of feedback you are seeking beforehand so you are not taken by surprise.
Reflect and decide what to do. Assess the value of the feedback, the consequences of using it or ignoring it, and then decide what to do because of it. Your response is your choice. If you disagree with the feedback, consider asking for a second opinion from someone else.
Follow up. There are many ways to follow up on feedback. Sometimes, your follow-up will simply involve implementing the suggestions given to you. In other situations, you might want to set up another meeting to discuss the feedback or to re-submit the revised work.
Giving Effective Feedback
Prioritize your ideas. Limit your feedback to the most important issues. Consider the feedback’s potential value to the receiver and how you would respond – could you act on the feedback? As well, too much feedback provided at a single time can be overwhelming to the recipient.
Concentrate on the behaviour, not the person. One strategy is to open by stating the behaviour in question, then describing how you feel about it, and ending with what you want. This model enables you to avoid sounding accusatory by using “I” and focusing on behaviours, instead of assumed interpretations. Example: “I haven’t seen you in class in for a week. I’m worried that you are missing important information. Can we meet soon to discuss it?”Instead of: “You obviously don’t care about this course!”
Balance the content. It is important to provide the recipient with balanced feedback regarding their strengths and their opportunities for growth. Providing feedback on strengths acts to identify and reinforce the learning, skills, and behaviours that the recipient should continue engaging in. Providing feedback on opportunities for growth and improvement with actionable and tangible methods of implementation enables the recipient to make necessary changes.
Be specific. Avoid general comments that may be of limited use to the receiver. Try to include examples to illustrate your statement. As well, offering alternatives rather than just giving advice allows the receiver to decide what to do with your feedback.
Be realistic. Feedback should focus on what can be changed. It is useless and frustrating for recipients to get comments on something over which they have no control. Also, remember to avoid using the words “always” and “never.” People’s behaviour is rarely that consistent.
Own the feedback. When offering evaluative comments, use the pronoun “I” rather than “they” or “one,” which would imply that your opinion is universally agreed on. Remember that feedback is merely your opinion.
Be timely. Seek an appropriate time to communicate your feedback. Being prompt is key since feedback loses its impact if delayed too long. Delayed feedback can also cause feelings of guilt and resentment in the recipient if the opportunity for improvement has passed. As well, if your feedback is primarily negative, take time to prepare what you will say or write.
Offer continuing support. Feedback should be a continuous process, not a one-time event. After offering feedback, make a conscious effort to follow up. Let recipients know you are available if they have questions, and, if appropriate, ask for another opportunity to provide more feedback in the future.
Source: Link
🌟 Weekly FREE CAPM/PMP Study Group - UPDATE
Next week study groups are BACK
Wednesday - Jan 10
CAPM Study Group
Join here: CAPM: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12881121/
Topic: TBD
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/events/capm-weeklystudygroup-topic-tbd7148703825405661184/
Friday - Jan 12
PMP Study Group
Join here: PMP: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12884882/
Topic: TBD
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/events/pmp-weeklystudygroup-topic-tbd7149008029751902208/
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