Feedback Strategies

 Last week I learned about how to receive feedback and why it can be so helpful, this week I have learned how to give feedback to others in a way to help them. The first article I read was How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk. I chose this one because I always struggle with giving feedback incase it comes across rude and I offend the other person without actually getting to help them. The first thing mentioned in this article is the "compliment sandwich"-this is where you "put a slice of praise on the top and the bottom, and stick the meat of your criticism in between." Initially I thought this sounded like a good idea until I read further and saw was given four steps of better ways to go about giving feedback:

1. Explain why you're giving the feedback
2. Take yourself off a pedestal 
3. Ask if the person wants feedback
4. Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue 

I think these are great tips to remember and I think I will be a lot more confident in the future when having to give feedback myself, I may have to revisit this blog from time to time to remind myself but I definitely think this will be incredibly useful. 

The next article I read was The Trouble with “Amazing”: Giving Praise that Matters. This article struck me because I would have assumed "Amazing" is a good thing to say. The article talks about why you shouldn't say this but instead be more specific, it doesn't mean don't praise people it's just telling us to not be so broad with it. We are given three reasons in this article for why we shouldn't just tell someone they are amazing:

1. It's Paula praise (referencing Paula Abdul, as a judge on American Idol)
2. It's Unspecific 
3. It praises the person, not the effort

From this article I learned that praise is important to reinforce but only when done correctly, you need to be specific in what you're impressed with so that people know exactly where they're going right and can work on other things.

Overall I think I have learned quite a bit about how to correctly give feedback and praise, without sugarcoating it or being too harsh. This is a skill I believe will be super important to have over the next few years in the course and also to carry on in life with me.

Image found on pinterest- https://pin.it/67UvQMu

Thanks for reading :)