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Giving and getting feedback is not an easy thing. Check out our way to create a safe space for it.
By:
Eric Jiménez
July 10, 2020
While the vast majority of companies include“feedback”in their vocabulary, whenever I talk to leaders, it often seems like they’re just going through the motions—something“we just have to do”—or, even worse, something people dread—and I’ve never understood why.
So, when we held our first feedback session at work a little over a month ago, we made a conscious decision to tweak some of the practices that the“experts”on the internet recommended. Our mission? To really make the session our own, make it personal and valuable, and give it a fun, laid-back vibe —in a way that only we could.
Building an atmosphere of transparency and creating a space where we all felt we could be vulnerable encouraged us to trust one another and share our thoughts openly, providing genuine, candid, and (hopefully) valuable feedback to one another.
So let me share with you some of the adjustments we made that I think really helped make this activity a success:
How do you set up the session?
In this session, each team member was responsible for providing feedback to one other team member, and typically, that person was from a different department (for example, someone from the communications team giving feedback to someone on the operations team).
We decided to set it up this way with the idea that someone who isn’t too deeply involved in the day-to-day operations might identify areas for improvement that someone on the team might overlook because they’re bogged down in the details.
It’s almost like a “Secret Santa” activity —no one knows before the session who will be giving them feedback. After a person receives feedback, it’s then their turn to give feedback to someone else, keeping the chain going until everyone has given and received feedback.
How should we provide feedback?
Our approach was to first tell the person one thing we think they’re really good at, or something about them that inspires or amazes us. Then, we’d point out one area where they could improve—with the aim of offering valuable and practical advice.
These values, and linking them to the exercise, helped shape our approach to what people’s feedback should look like and how we should go about it.
The important part, however, wasn’t just to point out an area where they could improve, but also to provide a resource to help that person make those improvements. It could be a book recommendation, a habit that’s helped you in that area, or some other practice that might be helpful. Our thinking was that if you’re just describing a problem, you’re not really helping much.
And when we ran the session this way, something magical happened. No one felt hurt by the feedback, or inferior, or unworthy. Instead, there was a shared sense of empathy and respect, and the realization that the person giving you feedback was, just like you, in the same struggle to improve themselves.
I think the most valuable insight, however, is how much you learn about the team and how they can complement each other when you focus on personal growth rather than competition.
At the end of the day, everyone messes up, everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses—but everyone should try to be 1% better every day.
Founder of a failed consulting agency that helped companies create more relaxing and healthier workspaces. Collaborates with the Culture Collective team in Mexico. Loves deep conversations, random questions, and playing tennis. Hates vegetables.
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