Giving and
receiving
feedback
Lessons and insights from Next Jump in
building the habits of feedback

Giving and
receiving
feedback
Lessons and insights from Next Jump in
building the habits of feedback
Last Updated: 1/8/2018
• As leaders, we are decision makers
• Feedback is decision making data
• The root cause of bad decision making
is bad information, or more accurately,
“unsaid” feedback -- especially the
unpleasant truths

How to give feedback

How to
give
feedback
• With self-awareness, humans are
equipped to “do the right thing” and
make better decisions
• Yet, without honest feedback, teams and
organizations are making decisions on
bad data
• It starts with practicing GIVING candid
feedback

Giving
Feedback is a
muscle
• Counter-intuitively, the best way to
prepare for receiving candid feedback,
is to give it
• Practicing putting the “truth” on the
table. Even if it’s unpleasant, it
increases your situational awareness
and builds up your feedback muscles

Using the
Feedback App
• The Feedback App is a tool to help you
start practicing giving Feedback
• It provides data points that are crucial
for others and yourself to improve
awareness and ultimately performance
• The tool is designed to facilitate getting
“truth” on the table (anonymous and
transparent)

Step 1:
Leave a rating
“Normalize
to a 2”
• Start with giving a rating of 1-4 based
on your expectations
• Professional Feedback Givers normalize
to a 1 or a 2, and focus on giving
feedback that adds value (mission
matters)
• Amateur Feedback Givers normalize to
a 3 or a 4 and mostly focus on giving
compliments
• NOTE – these ratings ARE NOT used in
performance rankings – they are for
putting truth on table for
Developmental Feedback

• Make your “internal chatter” visible
• What is your version of the truth?
How did their presentation/decision
land for you. Be specific.
• Example: “When you started the
presentation, I felt confused because you
had not set the intent and desired outcome.
There was good info throughout and I made
some takeaways but was hard to follow
because of the lack of structure.”
Step 2:
Leave a
comment
Share what you felt and observed

Tip:
Give visceral
feedback quickly
• Be visceral and fast (timely) vs wait
• The longer you delay giving feedback, it
will be more likely that you water down
the feedback or not give it at all

Tip:
Practice being
direct first
It takes time to build up muscles of
giving truth with empathy
• The target is truth + care
• Most of us care, but many of us find it
difficult to be direct, which means our
feedback lands in ruinous empathy
GOAL

Receiving
Feedback
“Feedback is data I need
for improvement” • Research has shown that while getting
a lot of feedback doesn’t guarantee
better performance, NOT getting
feedback is correlated with failure
• Feedback is data to help you make
better decisions

Make it easier
for others to
tell you the
truth
• As a receiver of feedback, you are in
charge.
• Start to observe the subtle signals that
we all do to “ask for comforting lies.”
Such as leading with excuses, or fishing
for compliments.
• Feedback is often badly delivered,
poorly phrased, feels unfair. But it is
up to you to find the gold.

Recovery
Programs
Help recover when you receive
uncomfortable truths • Step 1: “Burn off” your emotions
with a trusted person (colleague)
• Step 2: Sleep on it
• Step 3: Print out feedback, cross out
what does NOT resonate and
highlight patterns
• Step 4: Process the feedback with a
trusted person (colleague) and/or
coach

Seek out
feedback more
frequently
• Higher performers seek feedback
consistently
• Value is in seeing patterns
• It is rare that one piece of feedback is a
“huge” insight – rather the patterns

Redefine what
“Bad” is
Investment in Loss is better than hiding
(no feedback at all)
• When all of us practice a new skill, a
new ritual or habit, we are not very
good at it. The outcome likely
suffers. This is what we call
“investment in loss”
• That investment will pay off with
practice, seeking feedback and
course correcting

Instructions to
download the
Feedback App
For Employees
Download instructions
1. Search “Feedback Perks at Work” in the
Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play
(Android).
2. Download Feedback – Perks at Work
How to Log in
Username: your email address
Password: [you will receive via email]