Feedback Thoughts
In "Why It's So hard to Hear Negative Feedback" the author, Herrera, discusses the physical reaction we experience when hearing negative feedback, but I think he overlooks the emotional response. In any project, large or small, we tend to think of our product as a piece of ourselves. This makes it difficult to separate negative feedback regarding our work from insults to our very person. I know I experienced this powerfully when I was working on writing a novel. I found that I would become very defensive of each part of the work. The closer I was to the reader (and the more that person's opinion meant to me), the more it hurt me. I learned that I needed to distance myself from the work in order to allow it to grow. And as the piece grew better, I grew to be a better writer. Feedback was vital to that process once I was able to distance myself from the emotional response.
Regarding the emotional response, I have witnessed co-workers exemplify this process. One co-worker in specific had such a powerful emotional response to the negative feedback, she had to ignore the feedback altogether in order to be able to forgive the hurt emotions. It rendered the entire experience useless and made her unable to process the information she needed in order to improve. That kind of response forces her to stagnate.
I suppose the key point in the article is trusting that both parties have the altruistic intention of improving each other. That requires not only the altruism on behalf of both parties but trust. Trust can be extremely difficult in the modern workplace where competition for raises and promotions is a reality that we call face.
The same problem arrises from the suggestions in the other article that I chose, "A fixed mindset could be holding you back--here's how to change it." The growth mindset allows us to take feedback as an opportunity to improve, rather than a criticism that is followed by harm. Such harm could come in the form of loss of a raise, promotion, or discipline. It is our fear of these consequences that make it nearly impossible to use negative feedback to improve. In order to best allow the growth mindset to flow through all the workers in an organization, it must first permeate the top of the hierarchy. When individuals can trust that they will be allowed the opportunity to use feedback to grow, they will be more likely to overcome the fear and other negative emotions holding them back.
All that being said, I do appreciate all feedback and view it as the best and fastest way to improve.
Source Articles: Negative Feedback & Fixed vs. Growth)
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| Negative Emotions. Source: Needpix.com |
Regarding the emotional response, I have witnessed co-workers exemplify this process. One co-worker in specific had such a powerful emotional response to the negative feedback, she had to ignore the feedback altogether in order to be able to forgive the hurt emotions. It rendered the entire experience useless and made her unable to process the information she needed in order to improve. That kind of response forces her to stagnate.
I suppose the key point in the article is trusting that both parties have the altruistic intention of improving each other. That requires not only the altruism on behalf of both parties but trust. Trust can be extremely difficult in the modern workplace where competition for raises and promotions is a reality that we call face.
The same problem arrises from the suggestions in the other article that I chose, "A fixed mindset could be holding you back--here's how to change it." The growth mindset allows us to take feedback as an opportunity to improve, rather than a criticism that is followed by harm. Such harm could come in the form of loss of a raise, promotion, or discipline. It is our fear of these consequences that make it nearly impossible to use negative feedback to improve. In order to best allow the growth mindset to flow through all the workers in an organization, it must first permeate the top of the hierarchy. When individuals can trust that they will be allowed the opportunity to use feedback to grow, they will be more likely to overcome the fear and other negative emotions holding them back.
All that being said, I do appreciate all feedback and view it as the best and fastest way to improve.
Source Articles: Negative Feedback & Fixed vs. Growth)
Hi Samantha!
ReplyDeleteThe most intriguing thing you said in this post was how we need to realize how both parties in the feedback area are hoping to improve each other, not having the intentions of hurting one another. I feel like this is such a great viewpoint, and I couldn't agree more! I have never really thought about the emotional connection, but it all makes sense when you say how every project is like a piece of ourselves.