I’m currently designing a feedback session for an upcoming team retreat. Feedback can be surprisingly complex because it’s about creating the conditions both for more explicit appreciation AND for the courage to address uncomfortable issues. While we can encourage a feedback culture, there’s no point in forcing it: feedback is most useful when we ask for it.
There are a lot of useful models that can help us practice sincere and useful feedback – and in the end, what really matters is positive intent and good listening. A few tips from my toolbox:
Feedback is an important tool for learning and development – and it can help to build competencies to address inevitable conflicts, tensions and misunderstandings that arise from working together. It’s a good idea to build default feedback moments into your work – at the end of a project, as part of planning processes or as a quarterly check-in. That way, you can practice giving and receiving feedback on a regular basis – and it becomes easier to raise critical issues when they arise.
