People Skill
Get Feedback on Your Feedback: Dare You?
Give Feedback Responsibly. It Breaks or Builds Relationship.
One day, as preparation to attend a workshop, we were asked how we prefer to receive feedback. This question was thought-provoking for me, as I had never really considered it before.
When I looked at the responses from others, most of them emphasized a common theme: feedback should be direct, timely, and include examples. I wondered, would I be receptive to feedback delivered in that way? I wasn’t sure.
This led me to reflect on how I give feedback to my kids. My approach is usually direct, immediate (sometimes right on the spot), and includes clear examples of what they did. Yet, 90% of the time, my feedback seems to either fall on deaf ears or trigger an instant defensive reaction, claiming my feedback is wrong.
So, I think that I might react the same way to direct, timely, example-driven feedback as my kids do — perhaps they inherited that trait from me. This raises an important question: How do I truly want to receive feedback?
My Reflection
Recognizing that the way I give feedback to my kids isn’t effective, I took some time to reflect and consider where things might be going wrong. After…
