Tagged with: blogging • commenting • exercise • feedback • tip • video
In this episode of the Project Shrink podcast I explain a great exercise to help you improve your feedback skills. The exercise is free and can be done from the comfort of your own home! Awesome. 
For more details about the podcast, like subscribing with iTunes, please visit ProjectShrink.com.
Excellent recomendations about feedback, today i will talk with my associates to develop a blog to improve our comunications and help us to work better.
Thanks
Dude, fantastic post. I use that very example of the telephone game with my clients (we played it in Canada too LOL). In a project capacity, it’s not just an accidental omission of information that happens; sometimes information is withheld or altered deliberately.
I have a recent success story with a client who makes educational videos. They had a fly in the ointment who sometimes liked to slant things “his way”. He’d “forget to mention” things teachers wanted, or “rephrase” things researchers wanted. We put a wiki in (not a blog, but the same concept), and suddenly everything was transparent. The worked from their homes, making edits and revisions to the script, and everybody knew their feedback was captured properly. And it meant unanimous sign-off on the script.
Thanks so much for this, Bas!
Simply fantastic! A good article brings great comments as the two above
@Gabriel – glad you like it. Please let us know how it turns out.
@Geoff: ha.. so the game is played every where
thanks for adding your example… removing people from information streams + increased transperancy is a blessing (most of the time at least)
@Ali: thanks! and yeah it’s nice when people leave a comment to an article about leaving comments
That’s a neat way of forcing people to come out with their thoughts. Making the feedback and communication impersonal can work (at least in the beginning), especially in shy and reticent cultures (e.g. India, China) where commenting on your superiors’ methods is historically considered an affront and impolite. Once the culture of constructive feedback kicks in, additional and more personal methods can be used. Just my two bit.
Thanks
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Great post Bas! You’re right that there is some initial fear of jumping in, especially on public blogs. But once you get into the habit, it becomes easier, and you realize that with honest feedback, everybody wins. This is what we’re trying to encourage over at Coworkers.com. Not every company gets it yet, but it’s only a matter of time before true feedback becomes an integral part of work culture.
Blogging as a means to “removing yourself from the information flow” is a great idea – although I agree that it can sometimes be difficult to convince people to publish their ideas and thoughts publicly. Then again, as soon as a writer gets feedback on a post, he’s encouraged to write more. It’s just about getting people motivated to start writing in the first place.
@Vijay: yes, it might be a good alternative for people that are not comfortable expressing face-to-face (introverts?) or uncomfortable from a cultural perspective.
@Jonathan: fantastic idea! coworkers.com… love it!
@Travelay: totally agree… it’s getting people to take the first step that is the more difficult part.
The first time I commented on a blog, I found the experience a little scary, mainly because I was putting my opinion “out there” on the Internet for all to see. (Gasp!). But now I am comfortable with the process of providing real feedback, real opinions, even if (and especially) if it is to disagree with the posting. The process has allowed me to understand more clearly “why do I agree” or “why do I disagree?” and, as such, has allowed me to sharpen my feedback skills.
All this to say: this is excellent advice!
Thanks Elisabeth… and now you have your own fantastic!!! blog… AWESOME!
Same for me. It is also the same time, that I give feedback on a blog post. You absolutely nailed it with your video podcast. The question, I always ask myself, is:
“Well, what should I leave in the comments, that would add value to the discussion?”
But it is not about that. Value is added through the diversity of comments, and the interplay between the feedback provider and the receiver.
Also, the question will answer itself, once practise comes into play. So here we are.
Thank you very much for this and all the other fantastic insides from a professional practitioner – a fantastic blog!!!!
By the way: The ideas of using blogs as a medium to improve the project communication, and also to initiate a learning process through trying to establish an insight into otherwise very tacit process, is on my mind for quite a while now. But I find it very hard, to establish the usage in our projects, due to opposition from current rather “chaotic” practises.
What do you consider to be the most critical success factors in using blogs in projects?
Thank you very much in advance.
Hi Elias, wow thank you for your very kind words. I am glad to deliver some value
Hardest part with blogs (or other channels) is to get people actually to use them. Couple of things that increase chance of success:
- easy to use and access – so no multiple login, or hidden somewhere not to be found or accessible
- set the example , be the first, show them how it’s done
- discuss something worthwhile (decisions and respond to remarks)
- make it the only place where this information is available (so don’t post something that is already sent by email, make people go to the blog to get the info).
Hope this helps.