The 5 Steps
Learn a simple, easy to use, five-step process which will
- Set the right attitude for feedback
- Deliver it well
- Identify solutions for improvement and sustainability
- Increase your confidence
Feedback definition:
- information that is shared with another person to improve or sustain desired results or relationships.
- Find your Zone
First, it is all about you until you are ready. Then, it is all about the other person. As flight attendants remind us each time they prepare the plane for takeoff, when the oxygen masks are released from the compartment over your head, first put on your oxygen mask, then help others. Find Your Zone helps you take that first breath of oxygen and center. It is all about you and making sure you are in your ideal zone so that your message comes across with the best of intent!
- Get Smart
Get Smart helps you with perspective. To Get Smart you need to realize where you are coming from and also where the recipient of the feedback is coming from. Each of us has different perspectives, histories, and experiences that we bring to each human interaction. Get Smart reminds you be very clear as to what the feedback is and the reason for offering it.
- Create the Message
Create the Message is the step where you may find yourself sitting in your car or walking around the building reviewing in your mind what you are going to say. You have not yet opened your mouth to speak with the other person. As you create the message, you need to make it very clear, specific, and about something you observed. The words you use can make a difference so selecting the appropriate words is critical.
- Deliver the Feedback
Deliver the Feedback teaches three skills to use to reduce defensiveness and open receptiveness of the other person. When you share the feedback; asking for permission, showing appreciation, and delivering the feedback are essential. Research from the field of positive psychology stresses the importance of using a positive approach to any conversation. It opens the recipients mind to better engage in the dialogue. When you ask for permission and follow up with a sincere thank you, you change the environment from a potentially tough conversation to one of acceptance.
- Encourage, Energize, and End Well
True and effective feedback is not a “hit and run” activity. When you tell someone what to do, it may change their behavior—this time. But it may not get to the root cause or explain why change is beneficial, to allow the other person to choose to change. Unless you want to have the same one-sided conversation over and over, a mutually respectful dialogue on expectations, challenges, and other key factors needs to occur. Encourage, energize, and end well provide the tools to accomplish this.
The 5 Best Practice Steps are just that, Practice steps. The more you use them and apply them the easier feedback gets!
The iLoveFeedback© course ends with a 21 day challenge, on how to use feedback everyday. Check it out on our BLOG as one course participant charts her feedback progress.
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