Feedback Thoughts

The first article I chose to review was 'Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head'. I picked this article out because very often I am my own worst critic, and the people who will be more unkind to me about my work than I am are few and far between. Accordingly, I felt that reading this article would enable me to move past some of the negative thoughts I tend to have about my own work and realize that the only way I am going to be able to improve is to accept that what I do is not going to be perfect, and that is absolutely okay. It should not have to be perfect. This article was exactly what I was looking for in this respect. I had ever considered figuring out my own strengths simply to make a point of using them every day, but it does seem as though it would help to create a positive outlook on life and work. I also like the suggestion about asking for clarification on positive feedback. I think that people tend to be so afraid of looking conceited that they never stop to enjoy or look for clarification on success. They simply accept that they did not fail. I want to do more than that.

The second article 'Why Rejection Hurts So Much - and What to Do About It' offered some interesting explanations for why we let negative criticism to get to us in such a profound manner. I had no idea that we mentally registered rejection as physical pain. I thought that the offered explanation of the evolutionary benefits of responding to rejection the same way one responds to pain was incredibly interesting. What interested me more though, were the theories Guy Winch suggested regarding 'emotional first-aid'. The fact that other social activities can be used to mitigate the emotionally damaging effects of rejection makes a lot of sense. Now I know that it's okay to go eat ice cream with a friend when something someone said gets me down. In fact, it's backed by science as a surefire way to make me feel better and keep my emotional health in check.

The articles on the best way to offer criticism were also interesting. I love the concept of feedforward offered by Marshall Goldsmith's 'Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback' article. It's such a simple change from offering suggestions on how something could have been improved to how another person could potentially improve their performance in the future. The implications of that simple change, though, are enormous. People consider how they are going to change their future performance rather than dwelling on the oppressive fact of past shortcomings. I think that feedforward is a good way to teach and encourage people to do better without making them feel that they have done poorly already.

Finally, in Grant Wiggins' '7 Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback' I rather fixated on his concept of goal-oriented feedback. I am a passionate proponent of achievable goals, and Wiggins suggests that such goals are especially important in the case of feedback because they allow the receiver to know what to change and what to do more of in order to successfully reach the goals they set for themselves. Wiggins' article also reminded me that successful feedback is timely - a reminder I intend to take to heart. By providing prompt feedback, you allow the receiver to remember everything that they did to create what you are critiquing as well as giving them ample time to improve before they do the next related activity. I hope that I can take all of these pieces of advice to heart and craft useful feedback for my classmates during this course.

(A Sign of Success)

Bibliography
Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head by Sabina Nawaz
Why Rejection Hurts So Much - and What to Do About It by Guy Winch
Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith
7 Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback by Grant Wiggins