Feedback at basement: A Guide

We all want to continue growing and doing our best work and to achieve that, we need to be surrounded by people who can give us honest feedback.

It's not always easy to give feedback, but it's an important practice that helps us become better teammates and reach our full potential.

By giving and receiving feedback, we can reinforce positive behaviors and help each other grow. Without feedback, individuals may miss opportunities to improve and develop new skills. Let's make feedback a regular part of our practice, so we can all reach our full potential.

Start, Stop, Continue Methodology

At the design team, the Head of Design will meet with each team member one-on-one at least once a month. During the meeting, both of you are going to go point by point to get feedback in both directions.

Start: Behaviors you want the person to begin doing.

Stop: Behaviors you want the person to stop doing, or improve upon

Continue: Reinforce and recognize positive behaviors and achievements to help make sure folks feel valued.

<aside> Here’s an example of how it looks

• Start:

  • Sharing your notes in the internal channel after you have a meeting with the client

  • Be more participatory, giving your point of view and asking questions during meetings

• Stop

  • Showing up late to team meetings

    • Sending proposals to the client without checking your spelling

• Continue

  • Speaking up when you see opportunities for improvement, like that great idea you shared this week.

  • Supporting teammates who need help, like how you helped that new teammate get started </aside>

All your feedback should live in the 1on1 binnacle document that your manager shared with you. This enables us to keep a record of all past feedback to gauge progress and recognize achievements.

Providing Feedback

Feedback should be based on concrete, observable behavior or actions. When talking about a behavior that needs improvement, provide specific examples of when the behavior occurred, and why it’s problematic, and then describe ways that adjusting the behavior will have a positive impact.

• Be detailed: Provide actionable details so the person receiving the feedback is able to identify areas for improvement clearly.

• Be realistic: Feedback must be directed towards matters the person receiving can control.

• Be sensitive: Come from a supportive place with good intentions, not a place of judgment or frustration.

• Be timely: Feedback must be given in a timely manner so that poor performance can be quickly corrected.

• Do not compare: Do not compare the person receiving feedback with another person.

• Be meticulous: Take time to thoughtfully compile your feedback to illustrate your attentiveness to the person's performance.

• Be direct: Giving feedback can feel uncomfortable, especially in the Stop category. But without direct, clear feedback, we don’t give the person a fair chance to improve. Be kind, but this is not the time for sugarcoating.

• Be positive: Always share numerous things you appreciate about the person’s performance.

• Be cool: Pay attention to your emotional state when giving feedback to avoid misconstruing your message.

Receiving Feedback

This is an opportunity for your ego to take a back seat! Understand that some of the feedback you receive may be hard to hear, but it comes from a place of wanting to help you improve.

• Be proactive: What kind of feedback are you looking forward to receiving? Share this with your feedback partner.

• Be attentive: Focus on what is being said, and if something is unclear, ask questions until you fully understand.

• Be mindful: Pay attention if you have the urge to reject or disagree with feedback. After it’s provided, you can absolutely explain yourself, but resist the temptation to argue and focus instead on seeking understanding.

• Be a good listener: If you want to explain something, do not let it distract you. Instead, wait until the person giving feedback finishes and respond afterward.