Learning objective/Rationale: An extremely useful exercise, which supports groups to build trust and openness as well as individuals become self-aware and gain insight
Description of the method/nr. of persons of the group for which the method is suitable: Regular and effective feedback is an ingredient of utmost importance in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. Openness brings trust and trust creates more openness, which represents an upward spiral. Feedback exercises aim to support groups build trust and openness and individuals become self-aware and insightful. Exercises of this type should always be conducted thoughtfully and with high awareness of group dynamics. This is an exercise for groups that have worked together for some time and are familiar and experienced with giving and receiving feedback. The words “stop”, “start” and “continue” are used in the exercise in order to guide the feedback messages.
5 principles of effective feedback: 1. Even if it seems obvious – plan your meeting thoroughly. 2. Be willing to listen, because quite often people, especially those in authority, are unwilling to listen. … 3. Choose the right time. … 4. Choose the right place. … 5. Aim at making the meeting successful for everybody.
Instructions: Work in a small team or, if your group is a larger one, divide it into groups of 2 to 4. The best way to give feedback however is in couples. Groups should have spent quite a long time working together and should have built a range of shared experiences from which to draw when giving feedback. Give the instructions: “Think of the person you are addressing your feedback to. Use the principles for effective feedback, which are the following:
- Be descriptive about the behavior, not about the person
- Do not judge or label
- Focus on performance outcomes
- Don’t try to change other people
- Speak plainly and clearly
- Let the other party know that you would like to provide feedback
- Own your own feedback and speak for yourself only
- Don’t mix up your own thoughts and feelings with other people’s thoughts and feelings
- Be specific. Do not generalize.
- Be timely and regular
- Focus on solution/s
Tell participants that they should try to reflect on each of the three prompts (Start, Stop and Continue), but they do not have to use all of them if they cannot think of relevant feedback. Ask the participants to complete these three sentences: Something I would like you to START doing is… Something I would like you to STOP doing is… Something I would like you to CONTINUE doing is… In each smaller group, each participant completes the specified sentences for each participant in the group. Once all participants in a specific group are done thinking, they deliver the feedback verbally, taking turns.
Time: 10-20 minutes
Questions for discussions/Debriefing: After giving and receiving the feedbacks the participants can use the following questions to discuss the feedback among each other:
- Do you have any suggestions on how to improve my working skills?
- Would you like to share any ideas that you have about my way of working?
- How do you feel after the feedback?
- Do you have any suggestions how I can improve the way I give feedbacks?
Source: VIVA Erasmus+ project