Growth Through Feedback
When feedback is viewed as a tool for growth, it becomes an opportunity to improve rather than a criticism
Think about the best mentor you’ve ever had – not the person who was always great at what they did, but the person who encouraged you to keep working and get better as you went along. How did they let you know when you missed the mark or redirect you to a more effective path?
It can be hard to face your mistakes but when you know your team or client will bring it up when you’ve stumbled – nicely – you can be open to receiving that and using it to help you be a better version of yourself (professionally and personally).
Giving Quality Feedback
When there is an expectation that feedback WILL HAPPEN, that it will happen when it is RELEVANT, that you are expected to both GIVE AND RECEIVE feedback REGULARLY, and that feedback is given with the INTENT TO HELP YOU BETTER YOURSELF AND SUCCEED – it becomes an exciting first step to growth.
This is the feedback culture at Northern Primrose, and it’s a great way to make sure the whole team is both giving and getting good quality feedback.
We’ve all been in that situation where a supervisor waited until a scheduled meeting to surprise you with criticism about work you did weeks ago that is already complete and off the docket, where you no longer remember the details of what happened, and the opportunity to fix it for that occurrence has already passed by.
This feedback isn’t very useful because you can’t apply it to the active problem and learn from it in a timely manner. The best you can do is note it down and try to remember about it the next time a similar enough situation arises.
Remember, when you are giving feedback:
- Don’t avoid the issue
- Give feedback when it is relevant and actionable
- Give both encouraging and constructive feedback
- Give feedback regularly
- Emphasize your intent to help the other person grow and improve
Channels for Providing Feedback
At Northern Primrose, because feedback is on-going, there’s no scary stigma around it. As an organization, we use virtual meetings and Slack to communicate with one another – both are great tools for sending feedback!
Having more than one format or channel of feedback is part of what makes our feedback culture a regular part of daily activities. All of the ways we communicate together are used for both encouragement (positive feedback) and improvements (constructive feedback).
- Team-wide slack channels address work involving multiple team members
- Slack DMs address individual stumbles and opportunities to ask for more specific feedback
- Audio messages get the point across utilizing a person’s tone of voice and verbal inflection – which can emphasize the intent to help
- Virtual meetings allow for facial expressions and body language to help make the point – and screen sharing can be utilized to bridge gaps in understanding
When we make mistakes, we call each other out, fix our errors, and since it’s out in the open, we all learn from each other’s mistakes, together.
Oftentimes, what happens in a workplace is the work culture doesn’t allow space for people to be human – we all make mistakes, and mistakes are the best opportunities to learn and grow, both as individuals and as a company! It’s the beauty of collaborative work – one person’s mistake can be their team member’s inspiration for solving a problem.
The Takeaway
It feels great to grow and improve yourself and your work, and feedback can be a great tool for kick-starting that growth process. Giving high quality feedback makes it easier for your team to take meaningful action on the feedback being shared with them.
Set the expectation that all team members will give and receive feedback, that it will happen when it’s relevant, it will happen regularly, and that the intent of feedback is to help everyone succeed – both as a team and individuals.
Avoid creating stigma around feedback by intentionally sharing both positive and constructive feedback. Having feedback as part of on-going communication on all regular communication channels integrates it as a part of daily work, rather than an event that creates negative stigma and stress among team members.
Make feedback a part of your daily work experience and start reaping the rewards of a growth mindset!
Looking to join the Northern Primrose Team?
Fill out our career form HERE!
