Feedback and It’s Effect on Results

Do you find that some people have an amazing ability to be able to bring out the best in you? Or have you ever felt that the people around you are not helping you to achieve what you need to do. Maybe you feel their feedback is undermining you, and they are really not helping in any way.

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It can be frustrating if you are trying to develop your skills, but others are just finding the faults rather than helping. Maybe sometimes you also feel in a position where you can’t really move forward but are being pushed backwards by the ever-increasing tide of progress?

Imagine instead that you are getting fantastic information and feedback which really helps to propel yourself forward.  You feel like you’re achieving things and you’re in flow.  You’re making things happen and pushing your limits and your organisation along with you.

You are growing every single year, your skills are increasing, your income is increasing, your respect has been increasing and you’re actually achieving exactly what you want to be achieving.

So, if you find you are experiencing negative problems as mentioned above, but you want to achieve positive results, then perhaps you agree something needs to change?

I’m here to talk to you about the feedback that you may be receiving, because feedback is one of the most important things you can ever have, and we all receive it all the time.

You know if you “fall down”, the feedback is to “pick yourself back up” again.  If you burn your dinner the feedback is to not cook the food for quite so long next time. So, feedback is all around us all the time and the main thing is to make sure you recognise and use it.

I have identified six key things that you need to think about when you’re giving feedback to other people (or even receiving it yourself). These 6 factors will help you make the best out of any feedback, and help you screen out the negativity that you might not need.

Feedback or Criticism?

Have you ever received the wrong type of feedback? Some trainers and coaches choose to just give their clients critical feedback, just the bits that are wrong.  Basically, they just highlight those negative feedback aspects.

But here’s the thing – that type of negative feedback really doesn’t benefit anyone. It doesn’t help you to move forward as you are not actually receiving the kind of information that you need to make you better!

There have been studies done around how sports coaches provide feedback. The reality is, being a performance athlete is very similar to anyone operating at a high level in business.  And these studies have found that in both scenarios, one piece of bad feedback can take years to recover from.

If you are in a place where the only thing you’re receiving is poor feedback – you’re being told your work is not up to scratch, but no-one is giving you any suggestions for improvement, that can be hard.

Personally, I’ve had received both positive and negative feedback experience lots of times. I’ve also been on the other side where I’ve been giving the feedback back to others, and I know the kind of improvements that are possible when you give useful feedback.  Great feedback can help correct the simplest or most complex of problems.

For example, I know one project manager who I was working with for two years, who was struggling to really understand many technical things that were going on with the team around them.  By implementing the constructive feedback given to them which covered not only just what they did wrong but what they did well, they were able to enhance their technical skills as a project manager and deliver success quicker, cheaper and easier.

So, I challenge you; if you are somebody who gives feedback back to others, are you going to find the positive as well as the areas for improvement for their feedback?  Are you enhancing the learning experiences, and consequently allowing that person to grow and move forward?  And if you are the person receiving the feedback, are you going to gratefully receive it and use it to improve?

Or are you just going to continue the same way and feel like you’ve not been able to make the changes you need to make.

A wise man once told me, “feedback is the breakfast of champions”. I know I am in for the full English breakfast!