The power of leaving valuable feedback for someone you have met with is massive, whether it’s for a mentor, mentee or someone you’ve decided to just have a one-off meeting with. For a mentor or someone giving you some advice it it’s a great way of thanking them for the time they have donated to you. For a mentee or someone you have given some advice to, it’s crucial to encourage and guide them in their forward journey.
With how we use feedback for ourselves in mind, it’s logical that the feedback you receive from your peers and connections hugely influences how you move forward in your career and, more widely, your personal and professional development.
So how do you ensure to do it in a constructive way? In the words of Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility…”
Making feedback powerful, constructive and valuable
Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative
The Power of Feedback, 2007 (John Hattie, Helen Timperley) Read full journal
Leaving positive feedback is always easier to give and hear, but make sure you mention examples of anything positive you say, and be as detailed as possible. It’s usually a great moral boost for whoever receives it, and being specific with it can really help build trust and rapport within your relationship.
Don’t shy away from feedback which may initially seem negative. It may be harder to hear, but ultimately that’s why we seek help and advice, so we can improve. Saying that, there are a few things we can do to ensure this advice is useful, and not harmful. This all rings true for giving advice face to face too, as well as feedback.
Balance the positive with the negative
Try to balance out the positive and negative, and don’t make it personal. Try to relate to things you have done in the past or experiences you have had where you have taken your own advice. Making people feel they are not the only one who has come across this problem will definitely put them at ease. Be specific, where possible.
There are many other factors that account for great feedback, and there’s no exact formula. As long as you have taken the time to listen to the other person, have considered their objectives and goals, and have approached the advice and feedback with empathy to their situation, you’ll generally be OK! Your feedback should also be timely, when the meeting is fresh in their mind and hence motivation is at its highest.
A great resource if you’re looking for more information can be found in an informative blog post by Sonya Krakoff.
Leaving feedback on my2be
Feedback on my2be can be as simple as a rating out of 5 stars. Easy, right? It only takes two seconds. As with everything within my2be, we keep things simple.
Whilst leaving a star rating is fine, it can be so much more powerful. This is a great opportunity to leave constructive feedback, a personal message, or even a public testimonial. This gives you control to make sure a comment is kept private between the two of you, or if you’d like to give them the option to make it publicly visible. So we suggest you make the most of the tools you have at your disposal!
Convinced? Awesome. So how do I do it? After each meeting you will have a banner on your connections page with the option to leave the feedback you wish. Check out our animation below to show you through the process.
Not seeing the feedback banner? To avoid overwhelming you with prompts, we only show one prompt at a time, so you may see a banner for adding meeting actions first instead. Simply add some actions on your meeting page first, or mark the meeting as having no actions. You can read more on meeting actions here.
How do we use feedback?
my2be uses this information to help us not only recommend the person you are leaving the feedback for to others, but also help recommend the best people for you to meet with in the future. So its importance cannot be understated!
What do you think? Let us know!
As always we love to hear your feedback and views on this. Feel free to let us know your thoughts by contacting us at hello@my2be.com – we’re a friendly bunch! But if you take anything away from this, remember that the power of leaving valuable feedback cannot be understated!