Feedback: Dish it out generously

Feedback has been the theme of the week – for myself, and my clients.

After running my own business for 4 years, I finally decided now was the time to throw my hat in the ring for an award.

Usually, I focus only on delivering for clients. 

But when I stand back and look at what we’ve done, I’ve made a real impact – with clients. And more recently, helping over 350 women get back into the workforce or switch careers.

This business is award-worthy!

Or so I thought.

I didn’t make it past the first round.

I was annoyed. Feedback is the breakfast of champions, but I felt starved! How am I supposed to improve for next time?

Teams and leaders I’ve coached this week are grappling with the need to develop a constant learning culture and the ‘push and pull’ nature of feedback:

• How it’s important to ask for it
• Explain why you need it and the type of feedback you want
• How too much feedback and multiple rounds of reviews results in diminishing returns.

It’s important to go for ‘progress over perfection’ – after all ‘done is better than perfect.’

Yet too much feedback and endless reviews lead to diminishing returns.

What about giving feedback?

Interestingly, the word “feedback” can trigger a threat response in the brain. It can challenge someone’s status or sense of self-worth. Dive deeper into David Rock’s SCARF model for more insights.

My advice is to dish out positive feedback generously – like a kid serving themselves ice cream. We all need it to learn and grow.

Teams need feedback loops for:

1. Learning collectively eg. how might we change the team’s mindset?

2. Individual learning eg. how might we develop change leadership capability?

3. Learning relating to how the team operates eg. how might we change our way of working and use agile principles?

4. Unlearning eg. how can we let go of old assumptions and beliefs and be inclusive?

Check out the feedback I got last week:

“Our session would have been better if we had more sitting down, and it went for 30 minutes less.“

– Lawyer

“In just one day of working with Louise, our team gained invaluable insights and actionable feedback on how we can continue to improve all aspects of our business and team performance.

Louise’s warmth and investment in ensuring everyone felt safe to contribute was unlike any other consultant we have worked with and was key to our team gaining such clarity, all whilst having a lot of fun. I couldn’t recommend Louise more highly.” 

– Charly Duffy, Partner, Coghlan Duffy & Co Lawyers

Who will you dish out positive feedback to today?

I’d love your feedback on this blog post if you feel like giving it…