Benchmark Institute is a training and performance development
organization dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of
legal services to low-income communities.
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To see ourselves as others see us.
• Information about the impact that people have on one another in the here
and now
• Communicating information so that the receiver can ask for clarification
or elaboration (2-way)
• Process for building interpersonal relationships
Effective |
Ineffective |
| - about a specific
behavior |
evaluation |
| - comes soon after
the behavior is dumped |
saved up |
| - is direct - me to you |
me to Jones to you |
| - is owned by the person "I" |
"they" |
| - includes feelings |
no feelings |
| - is checked by sender for understanding |
assumes understanding |
| - leaves person free to change |
demands conformity |
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Feedback Techniques |
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1. Focus feedback on behavior rather than
the person
Refer to what people do rather than comment on
what we imagine the are. This focus on behavior further implies that we
use adverbs (which relate to actions) rather than adjectives (which relate
to qualities) when referring to a person. Thus we might say a person
"talked considerably in this meeting", rather than this person "is a loud¬
mouth".
2. Focus feedback on observations
rather than inferences
Observations refer to what we can see or hear in
the person’s behavior, while inferences refer to our interpretations of
the behavior (as in "you were defensive", or "you are a driver"). The
sharing of inferences or conclusions may be valuable, but they must be so
identified.
3. Focus feedback on description
rather than judgment
The effort to describe represents a process for
reporting what occurred, while judgment refers to an evaluation in terms
of good or bad, right or wrong, nice or not nice. The judgments arise out
of a personal frame of reference or value grid, whereas description
represents more neutral reporting.
4. Give feedback on a continuum of
behavior, when possible, as opposed to categories
Using a continuum on which any behavior may
fall, stressing quantity which is objective and measurable rather than
quality, which is subjective and judgmental is often possible. Thus, a
person may fall on a continuum from low participation to high
participation, rather than good or bad participation. Not to think in
terms of continuum is to trap ourselves into thinking in categories, which
have different values for different persons and as such, provide blocks in
feedback.
5. Focus feedback on behavior
related to a specific situation, preferably to the "here and now", rather
than to behavior in the abstract placing it in the "there and then"
What you and I do is always tied in some way to
time and place, and we increase our understanding of behavior by keeping
it tied to time and place. Information is most meaningful if given as soon
as appropriate after the observation or reactions occur.
6. Focus feedback on the sharing of
ideas and information rather than giving advice
By sharing ideas and information, we leave the
receiver free to decide in the light of their own goals in a particular
situation at a particular time, how to use the ideas and the information.
When we give advice, in a sense we take away the person's freedom to
determine what is the most appropriate course of action, as well as
reducing personal responsibility for their own behavior.
7. Focus feedback on exploration of
alternatives rather than answers or solutions
The more we can focus on a variety of procedures
and means for attaining a particular goal, the less likely we are to
accept prematurely a particular answer or solution which may or may not
fit a particular problem. Many of us go around with a collation of answers
and solutions for which there are no problems.
8. Focus feedback on the value it
may have to the recipient, not on the value or "release" that it provides
the person giving the feedback
The information provided should serve the
recipient’s needs rather than the giver’s needs. Help and feedback need to
be given and perceived as an offer, not an imposition.
9. Focus feedback on the amount of
information that the receiver can use rather than on the amount that you
might like to give
To overload people with information is to reduce
the possibility that they may use what they receive effectively. When we
give more than can be used, we are satisfying some need for ourselves
rather than being useful to the other person.
10. Focus feedback on time and place
so that personal data can be shared at appropriate times
Because receiving and using personal feedback
involves the most possible emotional reactions, it is important to be
sensitive to when it is appropriate to provide feedback. Information
presented at an inappropriate time may do more harm than good.
11. Focus feedback on what is said
rather than why it is said
The aspects of information which relate to the
what, how, when and where, of what is said are observable characteristics.
The why of what is said takes up from the observable to the inferred, and
brings up questions of "motives". To make assumptions about the motives of
the person giving information may prevent us from hearing or cause us to
distort what is said. In short, if I question why people give me feedback
I may not hear what they say.
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