Authentic Counselling Training
Giving and Receiving Feedback
[Under construction: 29 May 2005 ]
Why be concerned about feedback?
Feedback is a term used to cover a wide range of experiences. The term is used both as a verb (to feedback) and as a noun (what is fed back). The term is generally neutral in value (neither good nor bad), but confusingly both the experience of feeding back, and the experience of being fed back to, are rich in value, and readily evoke feelings, often powerful, sometimes negative. Feedback is given and received for many different reasons. Consequently, understanding the meaning of the term deserves care and thought.
When the amplification of a public address system increases, some of the sound from the speakers is picked up by the microphone and gets fed back into the amplification. In this circumstance, typically, an unpleasant whistle results. However, when gauged correctly, the imminence of ‘feedback’ can be used skilfully to achieve maximum amplification from the layout of the system. In this technological example are several features of the feedback process, including:
· Feedback is a response to something originally generated
· Feedback is affected by the distance and barriers between speakers and microphone
· Feedback is affected by the environment in which it is taking place
· Used clumsily feedback can be experienced as unpleasant; used skilfully it can be of great value
The term feedback is sometimes used euphemistically for a reprimand (“I intend to give him some feedback about his unacceptable behaviour.”). Sometimes the term feedback is used for an occasion when a reprimand is to be given, but the deliverer wishes to dress the occasion up. It is in this circumstance that the (in)famous ‘shit sandwich’ is the main course on the menu: something unpleasant preceded and followed by something palatable.
In the context of counselling training, every aspect of feedback offers learning. These aspects include:
· The purposes of giving and receiving feedback on this occasion
· What is fed back
· The intentions of the feedback deliverer
· How competently the feedback is delivered
· How accurately and comprehensively the feedback is heard
· How the feedback recipient feels and behaves in immediate response to the feedback
· How the feedback deliverer feels in response to having delivered this feedback and how the feedback has been received
· How the feedback recipient responds (e.g. changes their behaviour) to the feedback in the longer term
Some of the many variables to be taken into consideration include:
· The feedback process being used (including whether it the appropriate process to use for the stage of training, and the extent to which everyone involved is aware of the feedback process being used and is in agreement with it)
· The reason for giving the feedback (including “Because we’ve been told to’; to learn to speak the language of counselling; to support the recipient; [especially by a course tutor] to offer an evaluation)
· The reason for receiving the feedback (including “Because we’ve been told to’; to learn to receive feedback constructively; [especially from a course tutor] to receive an evaluation)
· The feedback content (including reference to past feedback from this delivered to this recipient; what is being omitted)
· The feedback deliverer (including the manner in which they typically deliver feedback; how they feel on that day; their relationship with the feedback recipient)
· The feedback recipient (including the manner in which they typically receive feedback; how they feel on that day, and their relationship with the feedback deliverer)
Giving
and Receiving Feedback pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next page
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