Feedback Strategies

Feedback Cartoon

The first article I chose to read was How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk.  I chose this article because I struggle with giving feedback for the fear of offending anyone or maybe feeling it may not be my place. The blog begins by explaining the often way people give feedback by using " The compliment Sandwich". This method is used by giving a compliment at the beginning, the feedback or criticism as the meat, and another compliment at the end of the feedback. The fault in this method is by people seeing right through it and feeling that the compliments are insincere and just a kindness to soften the blow. The other fault in this is people only hearing the compliments and glossing over the negative feedback. The article further gave ways to give positive feedback in a way that will be constructive for both the receiver and the giver.

The first piece of advice was to explain your feedback. If you give reasons why you are giving comments it makes the person not be in the defensive but feels like you genuinely believe in them and are on their side. The second piece of advice was not to make the receiver inferior. If you get on their level and maybe even suggest their input they won't feel so belittled. Asking them if they want your input could also help them be less defensive, which was the third suggesttions. The fourth suggestion was to be transparent and not manipulative. By telling them that you have some feedback for them it won't feel insincere and the receiver will value both your negative and positive feedback.  The last one is putting it to action, by trying you can only get better and learn from your experiences on giving feedback.
I'm glad I read this article and I can't wait to put it into practice! These are all suggestions that I feel would work on me and I hope to see the fruit of them when I start taking them into action!


The second article I read was Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise. This was such an interesting article to read. It spoke of how stressful it is for some managers to give feedback back and how some dread the moment. It went on further to explain how managers feel like giving negative feedback as part of their job but giving positive feedback is optional. Through this way of looking at things, they don't really give positive feedback which is just necessary as negative. Employers tend to see managers who only give criticism as always looking for the wrong but slow to give praise. They went to further suggest to practice giving criticism and praise to be a good feedback-giver. Once people realize that you really just want to help by seeing their good and suggesting ways to improve people will value the feedback and see you as being on their side. Through this, it makes the process less stressful for both the one giving and the one receiving feedback.