Feedback: Hero or Villain?
Posted in February 28th, 2008 by Cecilia GomesI believe that practice makes perfect and hardly anyone can doubt it. However, practicing without receiving an evaluation of the results achieved will barely take someone that far. It is no use working hard for several hours if we don’t have the slightest idea whether we are in the right path. Therefore, it is always important to receive feedback on the work one is doing, or one could risk finding out that instead of rocking, is actually rolling (down the hill).
Feedback then is always a good thing, right? Indeed it is. If it is positive, hooray! If it is negative, it is even better, although it may not appear to be so. Only then can we fix what is wrong and get back on the right track.
From the point of view of the receiver, not everyone is ready for negative feedback, and these may become defensive, as if it were a major offense. For sure, nobody likes to know that he or she has caused a bad impression as this creates an awkward situation. But if one manages to separate the information being received from the feeling caused, this would allow for an objective analysis of the feedback. By doing so, one could use always it as means for improvement.
From the point of view of the provider, except some specific cases that do not apply here, most people are not pleased about giving negative evaluation and also feel uncomfortable when doing so. For these, it would be a lot better if the evaluation had a wonderful result; a simple “well done” would then do the job.
Everything in life is personal, as two people will always interact. Even so, the next time you receive feedback, whether positive or negative, try to take it as an extra piece of information that may help you improve some area of your life, and nothing else.
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