Giving and Receiving Feedback

GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK

This was a crucial moment in the team because to give and receive feedback, the team members must be open and willing to accept it. Would any team member lash out and create tensions among the team members? Spock's comments to others should be well balanced and he would be willing to learn from other people. Mr. Congeniality and The Soul Seeker would receive the feedback gracefully; I only hoped that both could gracefully convey one's weaknesses. The Contrarian might be different; he might not easily receive feedbacks, although it was unclear whether he would openly criticize other people.

During the feedback time, because the rule was that the recipient of the feedback couldn't make comments when the others were reading the feedbacks to him, each team member could only try to put his best face to look receptive. Spock gave an apparent look of being a little bit scared or shy when the team read his feedback. TC gave an impression of being indifferent although he tried to hide this. MC seemed genuinely interested and open-minded but SS seemed a little bit reserved. The feedback for me was that I managed and diffused conflicts (the Desert Survival Situation) well in the team, but I need to defend my ideas more rigorously. I thank the team for that invaluable advice.

After the feedback session was over, thus freeing the speaker to comment the feedback, TC defensively pointed out that he already knew his weaknesses and he was seriously trying to improve it -- another sign of insecurity surfacing into action. Afterwards, SS gave a slightly defensive comment about his feedback. MC, SS and Spock seemed genuinely thankful for the feedback.

In an interesting twist, MC tried to force TC to explain why TC gave the lowest score for the Desert Survival case although the team backed his solution. His answer was that he felt that the process of getting the solution was childish. He should have talked about it at the time we were discussing the case. Additionally, this gave us a further understanding about TC, i.e., he is process-oriented rather than goal-oriented.

Overall, the team performed well in giving and receiving feedbacks. Each member gave detailed examples to back up their cases and the evaluation was quite accurate. When giving feedbacks, each team member was genuinely trying to help without being judgmental.