Feedback Strategies

A hilarious and classic meme I found with a twist and focus on the idea of feedback

The two articles I read this week were really eye-opening and after some pondering, I realized they had a lot of truth to them! In the article How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk, the biggest takeaway for me was that, sadly, a lot of positive praise and gratefulness falls on deaf ears, which I realize is true of me because I am often quick to hear negative words more loudly and clearly than I am positive news. To me, that really seems to be an issue with era of social media, that we are always on display and trying to win approval, whether we acknowledge it or not. Some strategies for feedback from the article include asking if they WANT feedback, taking yourself off a pedestal, and explain why you are giving that feedback. In 5 Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job," the biggest takeaway for me was realizing how too much unnecessary praise (note UNNECESSARY) can create praise-junkies that constantly need validation to exist, and saying good job takes away an incentive to work hard and improve, since they feel they've done an adequate job. 

Feedback Thoughts

A funny cat meme I found about feedback.

Feedback is one of the best gifts that a person can receive, but it is not always neatly wrapped or presented in a manner that someone believes that it's a gift. Feedback, along with trial and error, are mechanisms that have driven the human race forward since the beginning of time. This is essential ingredient in science, and it is why scientific discovery must be peer-reviewed to be taken seriously. Sometimes we mess up and can be blind to it because of our emotions, but it is important to understand and receive criticism and feedback to be able to grow as a person. However, it is not always easy to hear and it is not always delivered nicely to us. The article Why It's So Hard To Hear Negative Feedback gets to the core of that issue, which is the fact that the delivery of feedback is often done incorrectly and in bad faith. This can really affect and damage your mental image of yourself, and it's often hard to refrain from feeling badly. However, the article Why rejection hurts so much - and what to do about it deals with the latter, recovering and receiving criticism and feedback. The best piece of advice in this article is "have zero tolerance for self-criticism". We are already being criticized, so why pile on ourselves when we could be thinking about how to change in the future.