what is your opinion on the characteristics of the following based on their words and actions, especially in dealing with the challenge?
Answers
Answer:
"Giving feedback turns out to be the unnatural atomic building block atop which the unnatural skill set of management gets built," wrote Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz.
Despite being the number one driver of our personal and professional development, effective and actionable feedback can be incredibly hard to give. Emotions get in the way, expectations aren’t properly set, and wrong language is used—each of which strip away any motivation we have to better ourselves and our work.
But as a leader, it’s your responsibility to help those you’re working with grow and thrive. Delivered in the right way, feedback is a window to the future. It shows not just what went right or wrong in the past, but the repeatable ways you envision actions being taken moving forward.
Moreover, we all want more feedback (or at least, the results of a second set of eyes alerting us of our shortcomings so we can do better). We want to be the best we can be at the things we do and crave instruction on how to get there.
So if feedback really is the perfect tool for development and growth why then do so many of us find it so problematic?
Here’s a look at some of the best time-tested techniques for structuring and delivering effective feedback.
How and Why Feedback Goes Wrong
There are so many reasons why a seemingly innocent feedback session can go wrong: Strong emotions on both sides, a focus on character rather than on behavior, a lack of clarity about what needs to change and why. However, the number one reason feedback goes wrong goes deeper than just what’s being said.
From our early days of running away from sharp-toothed predators, our brains have evolved to instinctively protect us from harm. Unfortunately for the modern worker, this protective instinct means we can’t help but fight back against anything that challenges our well-being. Even if it’s only words.
Negative or critical feedback threatens not only our self-esteem but also our basic need for safety and security by making us feel as though our livelihood is at risk:
"What hurts most in negative feedback, then, isn’t the overt content of the message so much as the threat of exclusion, abandonment, and ostracism that accompanies it," explains Karen Wright in Psychology Today.
You need to remember the vulnerable position you’re putting the receiver of your feedback in and have a clear purpose set in place.