I’ve been extremely fortunate of late. I’ve done loads of good work, been out and about at lots of events and met plenty of interesting people. A lot of this interaction has resulted in some really positive, supportive and lovely feedback. And even the stuff that’s not been lovely has been very useful in helping me to think about how I can improve. From conversations with Carole I know she has recently been getting lots of lovely useful feedback from the people she teaches to swim (plus a particularly yummy piece of chocolate feedback too). And so has Keira. Her improvements in drumming and school have resulted in well done’s, keep it going’s and even a couple of merit points. It’s all good.
But hang on a minute. Today is Friday, ain’t I supposed to be angry today? Hell yeah! I’m angry all right. I’m angry on behalf of all those people doing good work in companies and getting no feedback at all, let alone anything lovely or useful. A few days back I tweeted about a piece of super client feedback and Neil Usher responded:
Neil’s reply got me thinking back to my twelve and a half years in BT. I got well paid, I got a car, a pension, and lots of other things besides. But in all honesty one of the main reasons I left BT was an almost total absence of timely, useful feedback. And I know from many conversations with many people that BT is not alone. This void exists in many workplaces, and its absence serves no one well.
You’re probably reading this and thinking: What a soppy git/Get a life/Doesn’t know he’s been born/Insert patronising comment of your choice here. But I think feedback matters. A lot. Neil, well done on recently passing 4,000 reads on your new workessence blog, nice work feller.
So if you’re like me, Carole and Keira and you have recently received or given some positive, supportive, lovely feedback, please share it here – there’s a deficit needs filling. And if you haven’t spotted your colleagues doing something right lately, look harder. And when you notice it – just tell them. Simply and sincerely. Please.