During our weekly meeting on Tuesday September 22, current PAF Kelly Bartz gave the first professional development competency presentation of the year . Her topic: Giving and receiving feedback.
The session started off with a discussion on what feedback means to us. Going around the room, our answers included: positive and solution oriented, non-malicious in intent, honest, an ongoing conversation, with purpose, quick, direct, immediate, and specific, among others. Many around the room echoed all of the above as we developed a robust idea of what feedback entails.
We applied the competency to an activity where one group took on the role of giving feedback and the other took on the role of receiving feedback. Within our groups, we discussed our strategy to either give or receive feedback. In doing so, we worked through the suggested feedback processes:
Process of giving constructive feedback:
1. Create an environment conducive to providing feedback.
2. State the constructive purpose of your feedback.
3. Describe the specific situation/behavior you observed.
4. Seek to understand their perspective.
5. Discuss suggestions and/or solutions and agree on a path forward.
Process or receiving feedback openly:
1. Prepare.
2. Stay open.
3. Respond carefully and rationally.
4. Decide what you can learn from the feedback.
5. Work together to develop an action plan.
6. Ask the feedback giver for support.
Being on the receiving feedback side, I had to remove myself from the mindset of giving feedback and really consider how to effectively receive feedback. Our group brainstormed ideas to propose meeting at a neutral space (such as a team/conference room), to explore delegation and mentorship opportunities, and to avoid being defensive by separating intention from impact.
The activity was enlightening, and for me, I was pushed outside of my comfort zone and encouraged to think about questions and approaches I had not yet thought about in terms of giving and receiving feedback. I am sure that I was not the only PAF who took something away from the workshop.
For more resources on giving and receiving feedback, consult the Learn Now Guide, developed by GW Organizational Development and Effectiveness.