I entered the working world as a fresh Master’s graduate with many years of intense academic training, feeling ready and confident to put my knowledge into practice. As this was my first real job, I felt nervous and excited to get going and was open to doing whatever it takes to prove myself and show value in the business I worked for.
As a Master’s student, I was somewhat on the top of the academic food chain and that provided me with some confidence. However, in showing up in the world of work on day one, I quickly learned that I lacked any experience whatsoever and had a long journey ahead to start building my career.
I had joined a business and a team that values personal development and placed a strong focus on proactively growing team members. This was done through continuous feedback, something I was not used to. I was still very new with so much to learn and, of course, as I am only human so I needed a lot of support to ensure I produced the right level of work which was not without mistakes at times. This resulted in my team members giving me continuous feedback on my work - the good, the bad and the ugly. In my first month at work, I experienced a wide range of emotions linked to this. Whilst for me, hearing positive feedback about yourself and your work is motivating and encouraging, I struggled to take on the constructive criticism that I was given and often saw it as a personal attack on me. Due to being very self-critical and already so hard on myself, when receiving feedback on something that I could have done better, it felt particularly disheartening.
However, as I gained more experience and became more exposed to various businesses and learned the importance of feedback, I realised that I needed to have a mindset change. It dawned on me that not everyone obtains the feedback they need from their leaders and that feedback is something we all need in order to improve ourselves. When I acknowledged the fact that I needed the feedback I was getting in order to improve myself, I was able to adjust my mindset and slowly become more open to receiving the feedback I needed.
My attitude and mindset changed because of the way in which the feedback was shared with me - it was always done with empathy and with genuinely good intentions to help me learn and grow and become the best version of myself! The change did not happen overnight and was the result of a highly engaged, caring and intentional leader and team. Empathetic feedback was coupled with support, continuous check-ins and recognition when I excelled. This made the mindset change significantly easier.
Importantly, using My Feedback Guru ensured that I was being given valuable feedback - I was given feedback from leaders but also from team members that I worked closely with too, all of which focused on a number of different behaviours critical to my role. I too, was able to give feedback on how I believed I had performed in my own role and this allowed me to compare my perception of myself to others. My strengths and development areas were highlighted and it gave me practical tips on how I can go about trying to enhance and change my behaviour with some effort. As such the feedback I was receiving was not thumb-sucked based on how my leader was feeling that day, it was based on both quantitative and qualitative data from many people whom I had worked with,
Looking back, I can quite honestly say that I have learned so much about the value of real, meaningful and impactful feedback and I would like to share some of what I have learned. Throughout my working journey as well as undergoing my first ever 360 degree feedback process, I gained greater insight into the importance of feedback and communication.
Here are the golden nuggets that I have learned in my first few years in the working world:
Increased self awareness happens quicker through empathy - When there is an open communication line with your team and you receive continuous feedback on how you are perceived in the business, this increases your own self-awareness. However, without empathy this is often not possible because it elicits feelings of poor self esteem and a lack of self worth. Feedback with empathy allows you to understand how others experience you and it can assist you in taking on the feedback and actioning it in a way that is meaningful to you. When you are receptive to feedback, it assists you in your growth and allows you to be mindful of how you can further develop yourself.
Show an openness to personal & professional growth - As mentioned above, feedback is about actively listening to your colleagues, leaders or friends, taking time to analyse and internalise the feedback, actioning the feedback in order to improve ourselves and increase our performance, and work towards greater growth.
A culture of honesty & transparency - One of the best ways to promote learning & development and create a more positive and happy workplace is with an entrenched ‘feedback culture’. When you and your team feel comfortable to speak your minds and there is a safe space to do so, you are more likely to be happy and feel engaged. When communication lines are clear and feedback is encouraged and prioritised, this assists organisations in fostering a workplace culture that is open, and where transparency is present. Importantly, this honesty and transparency is a two-way street - just as colleagues and leaders have always been open to sharing with me, I too have always been encouraged to share and enable their growth too. I learnt a lot from their openness to my feedback, especially when I saw a change in their behaviour and approach based on what I shared with them!
Boosting employee engagement & loyalty - A Feedback Culture is essential is increasing employee engagement & loyalty. When employees feel that growth and development is of a high priority and they have an open and transparent environment, they are more likely to be engaged and feel more connected to the organisation and less likely to want to leave. Engaged and loyal employees are more often than not, more effective employees who will go above and beyond and positively contribute to the organisation.
Role clarity & expectations - Well-delivered feedback that is both positive and constructive can assist employees with having clarity on what is required of them in their role and what their work standards and expectations are. From personal experience, receiving continuous feedback on my performance, be it positive or constructive, gave me greater knowledge on what was required of me in my role and the standards that I needed to meet. It allowed me to understand the things that I am doing well and what skills I have acquired as well as where my areas of improvement were and what skills I need to work on acquiring in order to do well in my job. How can you continuously improve and develop yourself when you do not even know where your strengths and development areas lie? Overall the feedback culture that I am a part of made me feel like I was being set-up for success in my role.
Sense of purpose - As human beings, we all want to feel like we belong and that we are recognised and appreciated for good work. This means that we need to feel like there is value to what we do in our role and what we bring to the business. Alongside this, we crave the feeling of being part of a wider team working towards the same end goals. Feeling valued and appreciated for what we do, as well as feeling a part of something is what gets us up in the morning and what makes us show up everyday as the best version of ourselves. Giving & receiving regular feedback is one way we can feel valued and to help our colleagues feel valued. Any feedback, good or bad, will just reinforce that there is a greater purpose to what you are doing.
Enhancing team collaboration & trust - Being part of a feedback culture allows team members to have an open communication line between one another and to ensure that issues are proactively resolved as and when they arise and that you are working together to do so.
So, although receiving and giving feedback may not always be something that comes so naturally, it is a critical part of the working world and in actual fact, it enhances work satisfaction and engagement. Being able receive, listen and process feedback at work and in our personal lives is critical in our own growth, development and in our relationships too.
There is a lot of talk around feedback and how it should be given and received. I have been extremely surprised to see many people I have been exposed to that actually WANT to receive feedback on how they are doing at work because it allows them to focus on what to improve and know where they need to focus in order to develop and grow. Leaders need to take the time to give their employees valuable, constructive and objective feedback and to couple this with an open platform for their employees to ask questions, to give their own feedback, and to participate in creating their own solutions. When employees are given empathetic feedback that they know is in their interest and when it is done in the right way, they are more likely to be engaged, productive and growth-focused, the advantages of which for organisations are tangible. We need to work towards creating cultures where feedback is actively sought and provided appropriately so that we can all become the best versions of ourselves that we can be. While I have come a long way over the last few years, I know I have so much more to learn and I look forward to my future feedback sessions that will allow me to continue to develop myself wherever I can.
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