Feedback Strategies

General Thoughts on Feedback:

In my last feedback post, Feedback Thoughts, I spoke about how over the summer I did some job shadowing with a drilling company in Houston and they were trying to implement an anonymous feedback system. The most important part of the feedback system, according to the H.R. representative, was that the employees take it seriously and give honest feedback. This being said, my personal opinion on feedback is the same as the H.R. representative; in order to be helpful it must be taken seriously and be completely honest. Giving feedback can be difficult, since I always worry about offending someone, but I have found that being critical and honest is not the same thing as being mean.

Thoughts on Feedback Articles:

When choosing an article, I was immediately interested in How to Craft Constructive Feedback, by Laura Gibbs. I think the 3 step system to observe, describe, and suggest will be a very useful format to follow in the future when I am giving feedback to evaluate a performance. This is because in my potential career, the purpose of the feedback will not be focused on self expression, but rather performance.

I also found the article Specific Feedback that Helps Learning , by Justin Chando to be very helpful and informative. Although the article is directed to help a teacher give feedback to a student, I think the overall concepts will help me in this class as well as in the future. As the article states, great feedback gives a path to a better future, no matter what is being critiqued, so it is important to give specific advice that could act as a guide. Another piece of advice I thought was important was to be honest and transparent, in order for the feedback to be relevant and useful. 

(Feedback, Loud and Clear. Credit to geralt at pixabay)

Feedback Thoughts

General Feedback Opinions

(Feedback, credit to pixabay user geralt)

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to job shadow a manager and engineer at a drilling company in Houston, Texas. During this week I knew I would learn about industry for engineers, but I was surprised to learn even more about management techniques and work dynamics. While I was there the H.R. department was setting up and online and anonymous system in which a worker could give honest and constructive feedback to their boss or coworkers. When I asked why this system was being introduced to the company, the H.R. representative said that feedback can make the entire company more efficient and happier by optimizing individuals work, but only when the feedback is taken seriously. Because of this experience, I am very excited to learn more about feedback and to even be receiving it later in the semester. Everyone has room to grow and I am interested to see what improvements I can make.

Article Opinions

I really found the article, 5 Tips for Taking Criticism Like a Champ article by Megan Bruneau to be both relatable and helpful. I have always considered myself a perfectionist and I agree with the article in that as a perfectionist, my performance is an integral aspect of my self worth. The tips were all doable and my favorite tip that I hope to utilize is to take feedback and consider it a way to improve, rather than a permanent negative aspect of myself. Since growth should always be the goal, this tip helps remind me that change is important to becoming the best version of myself, and traits can be developed.

The Using Harsh Feedback to Fuel Your Career article by William Tresender was  interesting and reminded me of my experience over the summer with job shadowing at Precision Drilling. Just like the H.R. representative said when implementing the feedback system, in order for feedback to work people must take it seriously, and in order to take feedback seriously one must not stay mad or defensive forever. In the article I found it interesting that the author encouraged readers to feel their emotions when they receive negative feedback, but ultimately get through with being upset before going forward with improving whatever was critiqued. I know that as a person it is easy to get offended or hurt when someone says something negative, and I hope through this class I can learn how to effectively receive feedback.