Feedback is a gift

I just made a getting feedback exercise that reminded me of something. When someone offers you feedback they:

• Invested their time to take a look / remember something you have done.
• Invested their time to analyze it.
• Invested their time to find ways to improve what you did. (Or to highlight the highest value bits so that you can reuse them for the future).
• Invested their time to word these ideas in a way you can use and action them. Think that this could be difficult, especially if they are offering critical feedback.
• Put themselves in a vulnerable situation. Think that even in anonymous feedback you may have hints about who they are. And critical feedback could not be well accepted. Multiply this uncomfortable feeling if the feedback comes from something in your team (or from your lead, for different reasons).

And they did all this to help you, getting nothing in exchange. Feedback -even more, if it is critical- is an awesome GIFT.

The feedback wall

I followed the exercise and asked for feedback. As always, it was insightful. I felt it was a pity just to read it and let these amazing gifts perish under the inexorable weight of newer emails, or in a forgotten folder in the file system. So I created a tangible space on my wall. I printed the feedback, highlighting the most powerful points, and stick these notes with Blu Tack. Now I have these ideas visible each time I stand up. And I can remember some things I need to polish as well as some others that I’m doing well (this is also cool 😛 )

And after a couple of days of giving me joy, I thought it was such a simple but still interesting idea that I just wanted to share it. I hope you like (reuse, improve and reshare) it.