The Art Of Feedback: Mastering The Communication Of Constructive Criticism

Feedback is a gift, though it might not always feel like it. Both giving and receiving feedback can be pretty intimidating. If it’s negative feedback, you’re having to look someone in the eye and tell them they have to make a change. If your skin’s crawling already, don’t give up just yet. Feedback can be an incredibly powerful tool – when applied correctly, it can become a catalyst for growth in all areas of business as well as in life.

Knowing the power of this tool is a great start, but once we begin to dig deeper into our habits of giving and receiving feedback, we realize many of us were haphazardly given outdated methods that no longer apply in the modern workplace.

Take the "feedback sandwich" for example. The feedback sandwich is basically praise followed by some form of criticism, or the corrective action you'd like to be taken, followed up with more praise. A tried-and-true way to make sure you're not offending anyone, right? Well, not necessarily. This tactic may have been useful years ago, but people have caught on to this way of thinking. Although it's a method that's paved with good intentions and widely used, it can often be misconstrued as a lazy attempt to get results from team members and can actually undermine your feedback.

Learning how to give and receive feedback in a constructive way is an essential part of any team. What sets our team members apart at Rocket Companies^® is that they're obsessed with finding a better way. Better ways to operate, better ways to communicate and – you guessed it - better ways to provide and receive feedback. We're not focused on settling for the norm or what's generally accepted. If what's most widely accepted isn't what works best, we find a better way, or we make one.

In an effort to arm each team member with better skills to effectively give and receive feedback, the Art of Feedback course was born. The course, free to any team member, equips them with concrete tactics to give and receive feedback in a way that breeds enthusiasm and growth rather than contempt or resentment.

Let’s take a look at some of the topics covered in the course.

This course begins with exploring where your mindset currently lies when it comes to feedback. In this section, the participants will discuss their ideal space for being on the receiving end of feedback. Are you in a private setting or in front of your peers? Would you rather receive feedback in the moment or after you've had time to process and step away from the project?

Tangible. Relevant. Applicable. These are the characteristics of the tools you should expect to receive in this part of the course. These are valuable tactics you can refer to when in doubt, giving you the confidence you need when heading into a tough conversation.

We can make the mistake of thinking everyone prefers to be interacted with in the same ways we do. More often than not, that's not the case at all. This section breaks down different styles of feedback for each team member. When you're conscious of others' wants and needs as well as your own, you're more likely to create a work environment of cooperation and trust.

Kirk Trainer, one of the training consultants of the Art of Feedback course and a Rocket Mortgage^® team member of almost 10 years, witnessed the course come to life and has seen firsthand the positive ripple effect participation in the class can spark.

"You know what's at stake when running a good business, part of it is communication, some of it is how you provide and receive feedback,” Trainer says. “What that does is it opens up those communication lines, opens up that transparency, and it leads to success. It leads to organizational growth. It leads to personal growth. It leads to all those important things."

Trainer, like the rest of the Talent Development team, believes that taking the guesswork out of soft skills can make a major difference in the lives of team members, and as a result, the business as a whole. Here at Rocket Companies^®, we're obsessed with finding a better way. Perfecting the Art of Feedback is just one area of many where we choose to always grow.

Do you see yourself taking the Art of Feedback course? This class and many others are free to any team member and we're always looking to add to our ever-growing family.