Feedback Strategies

Giving feedback its a very tricky situation to be in. It is very necessary for someone who wants to improve, to be given feedback whether that be negative or positive feedback. From experience, I can openly say that it can be very difficult to give someone negative feedback without feeling like the bad guy, even though all you're trying to do is help that person improve. This is why the first article I read was "How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk" written by Adam Grant.

I found this article to be a very interesting and a helpful read. It had a personal anecdote of giving feedback to a CEO, whom was twice the age of the person about to give the negative feedback. This must have been a very hard position to tackle when trying to give negative feedback but within the article, the writer highlights the means for how he succeeded in giving his negative feedback. The points he used were,

• Explain why you're giving the feedback
• Take yourself off a pedestal 
• Ask if the person wants the feedback
• Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue 

The writer used these points, giving the CEO the feedback which in the writers opinion, worked to create his vision for the company. The writer talked about avoiding using the feedback sandwich technique, to give negative feedback as most people would see what he was doing and then be blindsided by the negative feedback given. These four points on how to give negative feedback, show a more positive way of giving them negative feedback, as you are pretty much asking if they want it. 

An image of feedback 

Source: Pixabay

The second article I chose to read was "The Difference Between Praise and Feedback" By Anya Kamenetz. This was an interesting article mainly based on the book "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. It talks about the use of praise and how its present in the lives of parents and children, and also how it can affect the mind's of children. Dweck talks about the example of taking out the trash. If you as a parent, we're to say the child was a good boy or girl for doing so, it can effect theirs minds making them feel like they're not good if they didn't do it. Dweck talks about how this should be never said, as she says "You need to express that you love them and approve of them no matter what they do". The article carries on and talks about how you shouldn't praise them in ways like "You're very good" but focus of individual things, like giving them helpful, detailed and encouraging feedback. This would make them stronger in the long run but requires you, as a parent to be paying a lot of attention to what your kids are doing. 

These were both very interesting articles that tackle giving negative and positive feedback, which from my own experiences, I've never implemented, but may try to after this research. From my experiences with giving negative feedback, I usually get a negative and defensive response. This is not my goal, I'm just trying to give advice but I may learn from Adam Grant and from now on, use his four step method. 

To do with positive feedback, this article is intriguing and I do agree with everything being said. I've never thought that giving positive feedback in such a way, could have a negative effect. I am glad to learn about this and I may have to think about it more when giving someone praise.