I learnt all about giving effective feedback that will help one grow during my college days. During my under graduation, as a department we had to work on psychological research reports there had to be presented State and Nation wide with rankings. We were working on a tight deadline.

Our clinical psychology professor was managing us a team of 20 students. One of my classmates, let me call her Kiran, was consistently falling behind on her tasks and missing deadlines which got the whole team behind.

Each of us, tried pushing and telling her in various ways but our feedback was thrown out and taken negatively. Our professor who was managing us came forward and told us that ” It was my responsibility to give her feedback on her performance and find a way to help her improve so that the whole team can shine.”

Our professor scheduled a one-on-one meeting with Kiran and started by asking her how she felt about being part of research team and if there were any challenges she was facing. After listening to her concerns, she explained to her that her effort and work was not meeting the expectations of the team and that it was important for her to improve her performance. Our professor provided specific examples of where she was falling short and offered suggestions on how she could improve so that as a team we can outshine and win.

Kiran initially seemed defensive and upset, but after a few days she came back to our professor and thanked for being honest with her. She took the feedback seriously and made a concerted effort to improve her performance. Over time, she became one of the strongest members of the team and we were able to make it to the final round nationwide.

This is when I realized that good feedback acknowledges the trust and vulnerability that goes into the process through good-faith communication and the drive to help another person. Be transparent and kind, and your feedback will go much further.

Do you seek feedback from people who matter?
Do you reflect and take action?
Do you lead with a lens of improvement or a lens of mistake and guilt?

How has your action based on feedback, transformed you and your leadership?