15.0 Introduction
Learning Objectives
- Explain why effective feedback is important.
- Outline how to give useful, skilful feedback that supports and encourages your colleagues.
- Discuss how to accept and implement feedback to advance yourself and your career.
Professional Perspective
Dhavit’s colleague, Samantha, has been asked to present a workshop on benefits to a group of new employees at the university. Dhavit is a mid-career Canadian human resources specialist and has been doing these presentations for years. Samantha is a recent graduate and new to her role, so she has asked Dhavit to watch her practice and provide feedback. How should Dhavit go about providing effective feedback to Samantha?
He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. – Abraham Lincoln
Speaking is silver, listening is gold. – Turkish proverb
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. – Winston Churchill
This section looks at the final step in the communication process — feedback — a receiver’s response to a source. Feedback can come in many forms. It contributes to the transactional relationship in communication, and serves as part of the cycling and recycling of information, content, negotiations, and meaning between the source and receiver.
The feedback loop is your connection to your audience. You may be sharing information with a relatively small group of friends and family, or presenting to a large audience of strangers. Either way, how and what you share is part of the communication process and makes an impact. Feedback is always present, even if we fail to capture or attend to the information as it is displayed. Because feedback is so valuable it’s important to welcome it and use strategies to overcome any interfering factors that may reduce our ability to receive it.
“Chapter 8: Feedback in the Writing Process” from Business Communication for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
“8.1 Diverse Forms of Feedback” from Business Communication for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
