Feedback Thoughts

Right now, as a student about to graduate college feedback, good or bad,  and what I decide to do with that feedback is important. Learning how to handle different types of feedback is a good tool to have and one I would like to learn sooner rather than later in my career.

For this reason I really enjoyed reading all the articles posted. The Why Rejection Hurts So Much article really caught my eye because everyone has felt some kind of rejection in their life whether it was a break up from a partner or taking it back to elementary and being chosen last for the dodge ball team at school. The smallest rejection can hurt, even if on the outside it does not seem like it is harmful it is natural for a human being to jump to conclusions and list ones faults. I really enjoyed this article because I am definitely going to take the advice and when I feel rejected instead of focusing on the negative, listing all the positive tributes I can bring to certain situations.

I also enjoyed the article Overcoming the Fear of Feedback, feedback can be a very scary event if one does not know what to do with the feedback or how to react to it especially if the feedback is unexpected. I related to this specific article in a few ways from when I was an evening coordinator at a gym. As the coordinator I was in charge of making schedules and the well being of the staff and members during the evening time and that meant having to give and take feedback from members and staff. I quickly learned to listening first method mentioned in the article is effective in most situations. Working in a field with customer service when people want to speak to a manager we often refer to it as a complaint, if you think about it the way the article puts it we are just taking in feedback whether it is positive or negative. Often businesses close and it is because they do not listen to their customers feedback and do not know how to react or change because they are stuck in their fixed mindset.

In the articles Presence, Not Praise and Be a Mirror they both refer to the growth mindset. This whole study of the mindset amazes me every time I read more about it. These articles really made me think about how to phrase feedback when giving it. I use to participate in an after school tutoring program for elementary schools for students with low reading levels. Oh how I wish I had these tools under my belt when tutoring the little girl I was teamed up with for two years. She did improve her reading scores during our time together but I wonder know if I could have helped her even more in other areas of her life if I had implemented the growth mindset comments. I truly believe all teachers should go through growth mindset workshops before being allowed to teach because in the grand scheme of things teachers is where one begins to receive feedback that can shape the rest of their life.

Flickr.com by Aaron Goodwin