We talk a lot about feedback on this blog because we think it's the most underrated professional skill in the business world today. Unfortunately, it's also often the most ignored.
Continuous feedback is is one of the best ways to create efficiency. It's educational, informative, gets good ideas brewing, and is great for building employee morale. So why don't more people focus on feedback as the valuable tool that it is?
Why Feedback is Neglected
First of all, American schools have a "teacher-directed" feedback process where students are not encouraged to give feedback to each other. When we get out into the real world, workers expect bosses to provide all feedback instead of seeking peer-to-peer feedback as well.
Effective feedback takes work and, face it, that's a drag when it's not always clear what benefit someone will derive from providing feedback. To give good feedback the giver needs to invest time into a project, and that's not a skill most managers are trained for.
Feedback is also intensely personal and, therefore a potential minefield. A work environment should be supportive, right? Of course— so most people want to avoid being critical. Feedback is crucial for creating transparency, though, and it's a key ingredient to making people feel satisfied with their work.
Another reason people avoid feedback is, frankly, it's boring to most people. It's more fun to create something, not just sit there spouting thoughts about someone else's work. Sure, people love to provide opinions, but that's all it is— opinions— not helpful feedback.
Give Feedback
Don't underestimate the importance of feedback in the development process. It's not always fun, it's not glamorous, but it's crucial to keeping up morale and making a team cohesive.
