Feedback Training and Professional Development

Feedback Training |

Professional Development in the Workplace

To build a feedback-friendly culture in the workplace, we must accept that this takes both individual and organizational commitments. As an organization leader, it is integral to establish a learning-oriented culture that places an emphasis on flexibility, open-mindedness, and exploration to equip your employees with the ability to adapt and innovate. This culture normalizes the goals and mindsets of practicing feedback and minimizes any structural or cultural barriers such as bureaucratic hierarchy, intense competition (that discourages employees from feeling safe to be vulnerable), or little time to invest in the employees’ development.

Individually, we can also lead by example and normalize the practice of feedback by identifying ways that you would like to receive feedback and actively let your peers, managers, and direct reports know that you want to receive feedback. You can ask your team how they would like to receive feedback and encourage them to hold each other accountable.

Feedback can be a game-changer. Reinforcing the best in people and helping them adjust behaviours that aren't working is one of the greatest gifts we can give our colleagues. The best feedback helps others understand their strengths and provides the encouragement and guidance to build on those strengths. And yet, high-quality feedback is surprisingly rare. Luckily, both giving and receiving feedback is a skill.

Feedback Training

What you Need to Know

In order to embrace feedback, we first need to understand what the measurable benefits of practicing feedback are.

According to a survey by the Harvard Business Review, 44 percent of managers are uncomfortable giving feedback, and 21 percent are so uncomfortable with it that they avoid giving feedback altogether.

At the same time, researchers determine feedback as an integral part of successful coaching, whether it is used to help athletes improve their perceptions of competence or integrated as a part of an executive coaching process to develop the individual’s work performance, self-awareness, and confidence.

Moreover, studies have shown a strong correlation between employee engagement and feedback. According to statistics by Officevibe, 82 percent of employees appreciate positive and negative feedback and 43 percent of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week as opposed to 18 percent of low engagement employees.

How to Give Feedback to Employees

The first step to getting good at feedback is to embrace a mindset of empathy and humility, and in order to do so, understand what feedback truly means.

Despite all the bad rep that feedback has gotten from negative experiences of feedback gone wrong–such as connotations of criticism and judgement–feedback simply means dialogue that promotes reflection, learning and growth.

Good feedback is specific and actionable so that the receiver can change their behaviours in the future. The goal of feedback is mutual learning and development for both the giver and receiver.

If you are providing feedback, it is important to understand the difference between destructive and constructive feedback. While destructive feedback is purely negative and meant to tear someone down, constructive feedback builds them up instead, because we lead from the mindset of helping others to fulfill their potential.

Understanding this difference also matters in how we deliver the feedback, if we are on the giving end. It gives us empathy for the receiver’s experience and helps us to prioritize their growth and well-being.

Feedback Training - What's Next?

Join our Signature Learning Experiences to:

Understand what constructive feedback is and isn’t
Commit to actions they can take to create a feedback culture
Use a structured model to RECEIVE difficult feedback well
Use a structured model to GIVE feedback effectively
Adapt language and positioning for different audiences
Follow-up to increase accountability and application
Apply strategies for listening physically, mentally, and emotionally
Respond positively to difficult comments and questions in the moment
Use disarming techniques and empathy to create common ground

Feedback Training