By: Zemo Trevathan

Feedback is not an “option” in sustaining a high performance team or organization.  It is not an “additional” or “advanced” skill. Feedback is very simply the lifeblood of any group of people uniting diverse styles and skill sets in service of common goals, and several studies have now validated this (including Google’s famous internal study on their organization’s performance).  And yet, as basic as it is, feedback is one of the most misunderstood and intimidating phenomena in the workplace. That is partly because, while there are definitely scientific perspectives and measures that can be brought to bear on defining and improving it, both the giving and receiving of feedback really are more of an art than a science, subject to individual differences and expression, and requiring cultivation; just like playing an instrument or learning to paint.  

But make no mistake, if you work closely with others across any length of time, there are few skills that will make as much of a difference to sustaining success and relationship than developing your feedback abilities.

A Definition of Feedback

One of the reasons for our wide scale cultural aversion to feedback is that the term gets used in many different – and sometimes non-useful ways.  So let’s start with a basic definition of the term that we at Evolution find useful in our own culture and with our clients:

Feedback is just data.

The term was actually invented by engineers to mean just that: feedback is the data you get back from a test build. It is the output of a mini-experiment that gives you information about what to do next. Feedback, at its simplest, does not include any thoughts or decisions about what you might try next, it is simply the data that helps you evaluate the results of what you have attempted so far.  

Feedback is just data.

Let that sink in. Imagine how much easier it would be to take in feedback you might disagree with or even be offended by if you held that mindset. It is just data. It’ isn’t “right” or “wrong.”  You don’t have to agree or disagree with it. The only question is: how capable are you of taking in, receiving, that data?

Being an Open and Complete Receiver of Data

It was the CEO of a Fortune 100 company that gave some of us at Evolution a first full glimpse  of this “art.”  As we watched him, day after day, taking in suggestions and “feedback” from dozens of people, we noticed that every single one of them left, seeming to feel satisfied and “heard,”  even though we knew he disagreed with, or at least never acted upon, the vast majority of them. As we watched, we noticed what was really happening. He was taking in every single piece of data, every offered message of feedback completely, and letting them know that he had taken it in. And if they were really looking for an answer right then, he’d tell them that getting to an answer would take him some time, and collecting other feedback, but that for the moment he thanked them and wanted them to know he’d completely taken in their perspective, their data.

And that is the art of receiving feedback: be a gracious and willing receiver of the data being presented to you, and refrain – at least in that first moment – from agreeing or disagreeing with it, or from acting on it. Just as the engineers who first created the term intended: the phase of the process in which you design or carry out next steps is a later phase, AFTER you have made sure to collect all the relevant data. The only purpose of the moments where you are receiving feedback is to truly receive it. To take in what it is that the other person is telling you. Even if you completely disagree (at first), it is important and useful “data” to know their perspective.  And if you truly take it in, it makes it easier for them to share it and feel satisfied and heard.

There are of course many other tools and techniques for developing this art, but try starting with this one mindset: “I am willing and capable of taking in the data this person is sharing with me. Data is good!”

Giving Feedback That Others Are Most Likely to Receive

Exactly as with receiving feedback, there are many mindsets, tools and techniques to utilize and practice that will help you master it as an art form… and we’ll share just one that we find to be at the heart of the matter:

Stop being “right” when you are giving feedback.  

Let go of any attachment to the other person “getting it” or agreeing with you or acting on it.  Actually, this involves the same mindset we already shared:  feedback is just data. Provide feedback in the spirit of “offering” the other person some additional information that they may not have. Stay out of the trap of “telling them,” as if you are “right” and they are “wrong.”  

This approach is based on strong science. Going all the way back to the 1970s, Chris Argyris and his team at MIT were able to demonstrate that people are much more likely to be influenced when they are spoken to from a mindset of “here’s some data, what can we both learn from it?” versus “here’s the truth, believe me because I am right and you need to agree with me.”

The Big Picture of Feedback and Communication

Of course, there are other things that need to be communicated, as well as feedback. There are decisions that must get made, limits that need to be agreed upon and set, assignments to be given… We’ll hit on these other forms of communication in future posts. The main point here is that all of these other forms work better if first you make sure that the data is flowing and that is the simple purpose of feedback.  

Our own experience in running our own company as well as in guiding our clients has validated this for us, and now we are happy to pass along to you this “feedback”: we predict that if you join us in applying this mindset of “feedback is data,”, you’ll also see how integral feedback is to the life and performance of your organization. We invite you to continue to develop your craft as an open receiver and gracious giver of feedback, and thus be part of helping your organization’s performance and health.

Are you ready to unlock your leadership potential by better understanding the art of giving and receiving feedback? Evolution’s coaching and consulting services are designed to help you become a better leader and drive lasting success. Reach out to our team at HERE to learn more about our bespoke offerings on Executive Coaching.