Feed it Back!!

Evan has just joined the organisation a week before the lockdown. When the lockdown was declared Evan was little lost as he has never worked remotely and neither was, he so familiar with both of his managers. Initial first 2 days of lockdown he has nothing to do but on the 3^rd day he got some work from Hemu, one of his managers. Evan was super excited and he immediately started working on the task. Later in the second half he got work from Shera, his another manager. That added more to his happiness. And that kept him busy. Gradually as the time passed Evan use to get lot of stress when received any task from Hemu and he use to eagerly wait to receive work from Shera.What do you think, would have happened??Evan was very new to the organisation that means he had no prior bias or schema of any of his managers behaviour or their working style. For him both were equal. And he was equally excited to do their work. Then what do you think would have gone wrong?? The task that both of them shared? Nope, task shared by both of them were of his interest. Then??It was the way Evan use to receive the feedback of the work done.Shera always use to revert back to Evan’s work with positivity, he would also share the areas of improvement but at the same time keeps his moral high. On the other hand, Hemu never use to appreciate his work, Hemu will revert only when he wanted some changes that too with lot of threating and rude messages. Most of the Employees are seeking feedback from their managers and agony is that when the critic feedback is shared, they become defensive or disconnected. Thus, it is said that giving and receiving feedback is an Art.

Feedback =  “Feed” + “back”. Feed it back with your reviews and thoughts. But the beauty lies in the way you feed it back to someone. The way you feed back to your colleagues or employees connects or disconnects you. It is vital that feedback should structured in such a way that provides positive reinforcement. Let’s look at the examples below :

Feedback from Hemu “ Your presentation slides are very inept and not impressive, you have wasted lot of time, now send the revised presentation in an hour or else I will release”

Feedback from Shera “ Thank your Evan for your presentation, I would prefer if you can revisit slide no. 6 & 8  they seem to be little off-track. As we have a deadline to submit the presentation, I am quite confident you will be able to share the revised presentation in an hours’ time”

Shera has used Constructive feedback which is also known as Sandwich feedback. It is an instrument that will enhance your Art of giving and receiving feedback.

Constructive feedback consists of layers like Sandwich; 2 slice of bread above and below are Positive Feedback and the stuffing in between is the constructive feedback(the areas of improvement). Now the main trick or artistic touch over here is the way you script your feedback. Constructive feedback gives you wings to share the areas of improvement and at the same time keeps the other person’s morale high.

To upskill your managers on the “Art of Feedback” write down to me at dipika.amlani@gmail.com

Dipika Amlani

Transformation Trainer & Coach

NLP Practioner and Life Coach