Teach & Serve IV, No. 29
If You Don’t Want to Know, Don’t Ask (But You Should Want to Know)
February 20, 2019
When we solicit feedback and our staff knows we will receive it openly, we have created rapport and trust.
A few years back, I was at the end of a program that I believed had come off very successfully. The participants in the professional development I had been a part of planning and offering and teaching seemed pleased and happy and I was feeling most gratified. In a capping conversation with the group, I proceeded to ask them what had worked, what they had liked and what they would take away.
Wow. They loved it. They had great things to say about the time we had spent together and the content of the program. They enjoyed the teaching and the pacing.
Feeling confident, I asked what they did not like about what we had done, assuming they would, given their positive feedback to this point, have a very difficult time thinking of anything that was not pitch perfect.
I am guessing you know where this is going.
Not only could they generate a few items (and there truly were only a few) that did not work for them, they noted one of my most favorite parts of the program and one of the pieces to which I was the most committed as one that was the least effective.
Though I attempted to hide my surprise at this element being called out as poorly pitched and poorly received, I am certain they noted my reaction because they rapidly ameliorated their complaints and the conversation ended.
This was a good lesson for me.
If you are going to ask a question, be ready to hear the answers.
I believe it is so very important to ask for feedback, both positive and negative (or constructive if that seems a more neutral term), on all aspects of our leadership and of the programs and professional development we put in front of our staffs. Without it, how do we grow?
Though the feedback for the program I have mentioned was not what I expected, I know that considering all aspects of what we were doing – all the intended impacts and resulting impacts we could note (even as they related to my favorite part of the professional development) – made the overall program better.
And I learned something else: these teachers felt comfortable giving me this feedback. They felt they could share something with me that might be hard for me to hear. This, too, was an important take away. When we solicit feedback and our staff knows we will receive it openly, we have created rapport and trust.
If you don’t want to know, you shouldn’t ask. But if you don’t ask, you will never know.
Excellent leaders want to know. This is why they ask.