Hi, everyone, and welcome to Module One, the secret ingredient of giving effective feedback. How many times have you wanted to give a feedback maybe to a co worker, a boss, and it didn't go quite as well as you thought it would? Well, in this module, I want you to start thinking conceptually, what is it that went wrong? Is it the way you did it? Is it the fact that you went in and not prepared? Or maybe it was that the other side just deflected and didn't actually want to hear it?

When it comes to giving feedback specifically in the workplace, you want to remember one thing? What do you think that is? Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush, I'm going to give it to you right now, into this. We want to keep it process oriented, which is that feedback, like anything else in the workplace should have a process. And that process is going to include both the logical argumentation as well as the emotional reactions that might ensue. Let's look at that, as to what I mean by that.

First, I want you to start thinking about feedback as like a loop. And in this loop, you're going to have an action. Let's just say you want to give feedback to someone at work. For some reason, maybe the feedback is a design feature or something subjective, where you need to get the other side to look at your perspective and at least understand where there may be room for improvement. The action in this case would be you initiating the conversation, which would lead to maybe a reaction. These reactions can be both positive and negative, you would hope that the individual would say, oh, wow, thank you.

Let's work on this together. But most often than not, the individual may not want to hear it, they may battle you, they may even actually deflect it. If that is the case, it's on you to move through this, this action and try to get here which is modification. And now when you get to the modification component, there are two ways of doing In it, and that is the first is coaching. And the second is evaluation. We'll talk about those in the in the next modules.

But for now understand that the modification component can either be from you or them, requiring them to move past the reaction and actually want to initiate the feedback process. If it is done correctly, you guys then go into a new action. And hopefully, the reaction will be much more positive as a result, this feedback loop will continue going until you guys can come to a solution. In my previous example of say, a design feature or something subjective, the modification could be used to have any brainstorming session so that you come out the other end and see what can be done about this objective feature, maybe a B testing, maybe doing some user case studies or interviews, whatever that is, you have to decide together. But you also have to realize that it goes both ways. Every feedback that you give should also allow is the opportunity for the other side to want to give you feedback.

So if you are asking for feedback regarding, let's say the subjective nature of a design feature of your product, you would say Well, what do you have that you can help me understand from your end it allows for that reciprocated nature of feedback, which makes it much more effective. And doing so, then the sender and the receiver both end up much happier in the long run. So let's look at this a little more closely. Because usually you as the sender, who will be giving that feedback will be looking for some data and this data can be anything can be observations that you make, it can be their words, it can be their lack of action, but it is on you to gather that data and see what is actually occurring and whether or not there are any patterns along the way. Then you will want to have an interpretation and this interpretation is what a subjective around the data.

It is how you are going to vocalize that To someone, and it is on you to prepare even five minutes before the conversation to see what it is you're actually getting at. Your interpretation should rest on a business interest or some sort of business impact. If you were say, talking about the fact that, you know, it seems as though in meetings, Sally over here doesn't actually speak up, and you would want her to speak up, your interpretation could be that her opinions are warranted, and that because of not her not speaking up, unfortunately, the whole team suffers. Which leads you to the label. The label is what you're going to be telling Sally in this case, the fact that perhaps her Mukesh attitude is actually not allowing her to really progress in her in her role, or that the fact that she's silent, actually, other people take it personally and may wonder why is that whatever the label is, we try not to judge it and we make sure that it's generic, so that the person under stands, why their behavior word choice, lack of action may be affecting the team, the business or the bottom line, because then there's can be room for movement as well as improvement.

Which leads us to the advice and consequences. In this case, should we go up to Sally and tell her this, we would hope that we could either coach her to want to change or help her evaluate why that may be. In this case you would how you would help her understand maybe why those observations aren't there in the first place and see if she understands that herself. Because if Sally can arrive to the point says, Yeah, I am a little Mukesh and trust you, she will most likely want to open up to you and tell you why. which then helps you move forward with her together, which, if that is the case, could actually help generate movement towards Sally maybe not being so Mukesh and wanting to assert herself collaboratively within team environments? Why is this important to learn?

Look, feedback is a fact of Life we all want to improve. But in the workplace, it has been shown that those who incorporate feedback of last solicited are just perceived to be more competent. And they settle into new roles more quickly, as well as get higher performance reviews. From a study done, they've shown that actually employees who can take this feedback not only benefit from these three things, but in the long run actually end up with higher pay raises in in their career, as well as just better nuances and how they are able to navigate their professional lives. So let me leave you with this quote, which is, we all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve.

Now, if Bill Gates the billionaire thinks that feedbacks important, don't you think you should to feedback, it's just a process. And the minute you can see it as that is the minute that you can understand how you too can actually use this process. Not only Get giving feedback but also receiving it. So in the long run, you're able to not only improve yourself, but as well as achieve what you need to professionally. Because we all want to do a better job. Look, the workplace is just like that, specifically for startups that are high growth oriented, and you're constantly having to wear multiple hats.

Feedback is some aspect that can make us all better at our jobs. But you got to recognize that some common reactions will pop up. And because people personalize it, and you as the sender or the receiver and feedback are hearing things that may otherwise be personal to you, that could be a tax on your character. Someone is calling you lazy, idiot, stupid, or maybe you're just not good at your job. These are all actual personal statements. But if they're saying it sounds as if you're not doing your job, because you're not entering your emails on time, your calendars flimsy, you don't speak up in meetings.

These are actual feedbacks that you can utilize to actually get better at your job. But the dissonance occurs when we hear an attack on our character versus feedback that could actually be helpful for us doing our job better. So when you think about that, remember that the common reactions that are most likely going to ensue are people will argue with you, they'll accommodate and say, okay, and not really do anything about it. Or they'll maybe even protect and self deflect, not wanting to hear it. Whatever reaction do you end up getting? You've got to recognize that these reactions also occur in you.

And as a sender, when looking at the process of a feedback loop, you want to understand where maybe you also are not showing up as you need to and where the receiver reactions may also impact the discussions. So remember that as you're thinking and working through the subsequent modules, Because these reactions as well as the feedback loop process are integral and understanding. How do you give feedback? How do you receive it? And how can we use it to become better at our jobs?