Learning About Feedback

 Let's talk about making mistakes and giving feedback for a minute. 

Mistakes happen everywhere; in art, literature, life in general – it happens! But because they happen, people are going to let their opinions be known, whether we like it or not. There are many times when someone tries to give criticism, but it comes off so cheap, or as an attack that it is not wanted, and no one learns from it. There are many ways to give an author feedback, some good, some bad, but learning how to give feedback is a skill that helps people grow into being the best that they can be. There are two articles that exemplify this; “Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn” by, fs, and “How to Provide Great Feedback When Your’re Not In Charge”, by, Eduardo Briceno, that are wonderful examples of giving constructive criticism and making mistakes. Upon further reflection, here are the key takeaways from both articles for the too long, didn’t read:

Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn, by, Eduardo Briceno. (Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn | KQED)

There are four mistakes to be aware of from this article: Stretch Mistakes, Aha-Moment Mistakes, Sloppy Mistakes, and High-Stakes Mistakes. According to Briceno, Stetch Mistakes, are when we overchallenge our current capabilities that make us learn from them. This is akin to say, learning to draw – pushing yourself beyond what you can do, and growing from it. Next on the list are Aha, and Sloppy Mistakes. Brinceno described the first on as realizing that you don’t know something because you just didn’t know yet how to do something! This differs from a sloppy mistake because they’re just errors made by not paying attention. Lastly on the list are the High-Stakes Mistakes, Brinceno basically described these are making a serious mistake, but not learning from it.

All-in-All, each of these mistakes are easily remedied when you acknowledge them and learn from them. This goes into the next article:

How to Provide Great Feedback When You’re Not In Charge, by, fs. (How to Provide Great Feedback When You're Not In Charge (fs.blog) )

Being not in charge is daunting, arguably anxiety inducing but what is great about this article, is that it explains three fundamental concepts in providing feedback: Appreciation, Advice, and Evaluation. When giving feedback, the first thing highlighted in the article is how to build rapport with who you are giving feedback too – these falls right into the point of Appreciation. Next was about Advice, and this boiled down to offering feedback that is practical. For example, if you’re withing a culinary article, it is not practical to talk about word politics. Lastly was Evaluation, and this point talked about performance of others and how to attack giving feedback in a manner that is not disrespectful, which fell to just being tactful when trying to give advice.

Both of these articles are good reads, and I strongly suggest reading them for self-improvement, but moreover, as a current student, and a once upon a time fulltime student, feedback was daunting! Especially earning a math degree. Alot of time we're conditioned to be shamed if something was wrong, for example, the proof had a mistake in it and the professor made you a point of it; and eventually the entire class, or worse, the department knows about it. Alot of time it feels degrading and discouraging, and you just get "use to it". I cannot recall many positive interactions in math classes making mistakes, but I can confidently say it got better in the work force! I'm lucky enough now to have a boss that gives good constructive criticism. 

By good, I mean, someone who approaches the situation professionally from a place of wanting to develop you professionally. They'll list what you're doing right, they'll point out where you can improve, and most importantly give feedback that will help you grow from those rough spots. That sort of feedback builds rapport, trust, and most importantly, confidence to want to be better; and that is why the aforementioned articles above struck a chord with me today.