Susan and Ingrid dive more deeply into a question from Susan's recent workshops with the League of American Orchestras: what do I do when a colleague takes feedback badly? Susan and Ingrid discuss what might be going on under the surface for those around us, how to give feedback effectively, and what we actually mean by 'taking feedback badly.'
This week, Susan and Ingrid dive more deeply into a question that came up frequently in Susan's recent workshops on feedback with the League of American Orchestras: what do I do when a colleague takes feedback badly? Susan and Ingrid discuss what might be going on under the surface for those around us, how to give feedback effectively, and what we actually mean by 'taking feedback badly.'
🤕 What might people really be reacting to when they react to our feedback? Our training model in music can be an unsafe place to receive feedback, which sets us up to react to things we’ve experienced in the past, rather than the thing in front of us in our workplace.
📝 How we frame feedback matters. We need to be aware of how our choice of words can help the people around us feel safe enough to receive feedback with clarity and openness.
🛠️ Praise = specific notes on what was good, constructive feedback = what to do differently next time, destructive feedback = what was bad this time. Destructive feedback by itself is not useful and can cause harm.
🗺️ Within constructive feedback, feed BACK = what happened, feed UP = what happens next, feed FORWARD = what we’re working towards. Research indicates that 40% feed back, 60% feed up and forward, is the optimum balance.
They are not giving you a hard time. They’re having a hard time.
LINKS
Gary E. McPherson: Feedback in Music Performance Teaching (2022 article in Frontiers in Psychology)
Find Ingrid at Ingrid Martin and Conducting Artistry
Find Susan at Notable Values
PODCAST TEAM
Production support and audio engineering by Thomas Grayden
Theme music composed by QiQi
Theme music performed by QiQi and Darby Lee
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This podcast was recorded on Waawiiyaataanong Country and produced on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Indigenous communities.