An important part of the group work process is to be able to give, receive and act on feedback, A fancy definition of feedback is "the transmission of evaluative or corrective information about an action, event, or process to the original or controlling source" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), put morel simply feedback is a helpful response to someone's work or ideas. Feedback can help improve team performance but only if everyone takes time take to reflect on what was said. These tips offer some thoughts on giving and receiving feedback.
Feedback improves the quality of group work. Effective feedback allows us to review, reflect and improve our performance. Feedback can be encouraging and help people feel appreciated and valued. We should all welcome feedback as we would struggle to develop effectively without it!
It's important to remember that feedback is not meant to be aimed at the person, but at their ideas or work. When someone offers criticism of your work, it's not aimed at you but what you did, and it's meant to help you improve. Feedback may not be well-delivered (these tips will help!) but it's important to receive it well. Listen to what's meant as opposed to how it is said. Acknowledge that you have listened and will reflect on what has been said.
Feedback should be descriptive and focussed on the task/project. It should not be judgemental. An example of poor feedback: ‘Your presentation was boring’. Saying 'your presentation was boring' might be true, but it offers no ideas on how to improve it and is more likely to annoy the presenter. Better feedback would be: ‘You could use a few more examples to drive the point home' or 'Maybe you could think about using a more colourful layout?'
Good feedback is effective feedback!
It is important when you are giving/receiving feedback that you have time to discuss what is being said and that everyone is prepared for the discussion. Many projects in work environments will have a ‘debrief’ after a main event for this very reason. Consider having a ‘debrief’ for your own project where you focus on feedback.
It is useful when you are receiving feedback that you are clear about what you need to know. Sometimes the feedback you receive may not address the points you are interested in. Be prepared to ask for more feedback or clarification about what has been said. Consider writing down some questions beforehand so you are ready.
If you are giving someone feedback, write down your main points before you start. It is easy to forget these once a discussion has begun!
Feedback is important for everyone. Make it easier to process by keeping your points short and precise. Preparing your thoughts beforehand can help with this. If you are receiving feedback, try to turn it into bullet points of improvements.
It is not enough to say what you think. You should explain why you think what you do. For example: ‘Your research was good, there was a lot of information and we got lots of ideas from it’.
If you are being critical, it is helpful to suggest how something might have been improved. For example: ‘I thought your presentation was a little short. You could have included some diagrams and I would have liked to hear a bit more about the challenges you faced’.
What have you learnt? What went well, what could have been improved? What would you do differently next time? Make sure you note some of this down and file it somewhere for reference before your next project.
Source: Feedback and reflection in group work by Mark Dawson used under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0
