Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback by Elizabeth Keogh was probably the top session for me today. Effectiveness, growth and indeed agility all rely on good, timely feedback. This session was used examples of good and bad feedback to showcase what to, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do.

  • When we solicit feedback, it is usually from people we like (and in turn like us back)
  • When you ask whether feedback is good or not, ask ‘for whom?’
  • There are two purposes behind feedback: strengthen confidence and increase effectiveness
  • Those purposes are what you should measure effectiveness of feedback with
  • Three types of praise:
    • Porpoise – positive reward of desired activity
    • Sandwich – good / bad / good
    • Atkins – Sandwich minus the bread
  • The mood in the room seemed to indicate support for sandwich, but see Esther’s Praise Sandwich Tastes Icky, II as the counter argument.
  • It is possible to change behavior based on feedback
  • If you are getting nothing but positive feedback, you could be in the wrong role as you have nothing to further learn or improve on
  • Give feedback to people directly
  • Face-to-face is safer (than email)
  • Anonymous isn’t as effective (though I know the kids at Rypple disagree.)
  • Feedback should be given with the goal of helping the receiver
  • Feedback should be timely
  • The rapport of the two parties will determine the wording of the feedback
  • When management is asking for feedback from minions, ‘help me to…’ is a useful template
  • One-on-one problems are rarely one-on-one problems. They are usually a problem stemming from a behavioral problem of one side of the problem.
  • Admitting fault in public can raise the comfort level of the team and allow for more honest feedback
  • Ask for pointed feedback rather than broad, fuzzy feedback
  • Her big list of things to do when providing feedback
    • Anchor the things you value
    • Provide examples
    • Talk about the things you see, hear, etc.. People can argue you observation, but they can’t argue that you observed it
    • Talk about the impact on you
    • Ask for help
    • Make suggestions
    • End with the bright future
    • Provide feedback quickly
    • Provide feedback safely
    • Provide feedback directly to the person concerned