Giving feedback to anyone personally or professionally is usually a very sensitive act, let alone if this person belongs to your creative team. It is one of those moments that can make or break the chemistry and coherence between colleagues.
Though, there is no doubt that feedback is essential for pursuing and completing goals. It is the main factor in empowering individuals to explore their full potential and produce higher quality results that satisfies their sense of accomplishment.
Most of us are always looking for a form of feedback, whether it is praise or criticism, to validate our choices, motivate our actions or enlighten us with new perspectives and new ways to tackle the challenges at hand.
An individual can readjust and rethink their approach to overcome challenges when they are informed of what has worked and what can be improved.
What makes an effective feedback?
Should it all be positive praise to what they have done well, or should there be some constructive criticism for areas of improvement?
Both are crucial, according to Zenger/Folkman. However, the ratio of positive feedback (ex. “I like this” or “this is a great approach”) to negative feedback (ex. “I don’t agree” or “this will not work”) was found to be 5.6 positive comments for every negative one for the high performing teams. The moderate performers averaged at 1.9, approximately twice as many positive comments for every negative one. But the average ratio for the substandard performers resulted in a ratio of 0.36 to 1, which means 3 negative comments for every positive one.
Whatever the data is, it’s logical that when we receive praise it induces dopamine and endorphins into our chemical balance and instantly boosts our motivation and confidence.
So, why is a little negative feedback so important?
First, it is a wake up call that something is wrong or needs our attention.
Second, it disrupts the state of complacency and the psychological phenomenon called Groupthink, which results in unsound or flawed decisions.
Third, individuals who receive the most negative feedback have more grounds to grow than someone who’s already improved.
Yet, while negative feedback is an important warning that we clearly need to stop, rethink, adjust our action for the better, even the friendliest and most peacefully delivered criticism can fracture the connection between individuals and undermine their confidence. It will disrupt the behaviour but it will not become a motivator all by itself, because it releases cortisol in our bodies and increases the stress level.
There’s a lot of science behind giving feedback and understanding human chemistry and motivation that cannot be covered in a short article, but I’d like to share with you a brief background on the creative team mindset.
I KNOW, I KNOW!
Be it an art director, a production artist, a copywriter, etc., no matter what their title is, they are all perfectionist at heart and feedback is an integral part of their process for creating the best communication solution that meets the requirements of the project brief.
They are naturally obsessed with the attention to details while constructing the big picture.
They strive for perfection on every project because it is an opportunity to grow, expand and prove their genius.
So, they tend to work really hard and burn the midnight oil on many occasions.
They like a simple approach and love process-driven methodologies that make the work smooth and allow for ample time to conceptualize without worry.
Ultimately, the aim is always to know that the client was blown away by the vision.
They like to make people happy with their work, so they have a hard time saying “no”.
This usually builds up a notion within themselves of “always accommodating, always compromising” and when it’s time for some feedback, the reaction is often “I know, I know!” or some push back.
Adaptation, acceptance and paving the road to better communication
In a pervious post, I discussed the roots of leadership within us and how we are defined by the choices that we make. Giving (and receiving) feedback is also a form of leadership.
The choice of words, energy and emotions that we make to express our opinions in order to transfer it to others determines our level of competency in communicating as individuals. Also, it is a reflection of our character and how we handle ourselves in a social setting.
So, first, here are 6 elements to consider as part of establishing a smooth communication channel with others:
1. Building trust by respecting individuality and personal expertise
Trust and respect go hand in hand. This is the foundation (in any relationship) for being able to provide appropriately proportioned feedback (5:1 ratio) that will not be shut down or taken personally.
Trusting that your colleagues are professionals with valuable input and respecting their expertise in the field will strengthen the bond, lower the threshold of emotions and facilitate the discussion.
2. Appreciating and understanding team input creates a shared and supported vision
The creative team is a big part of the solution development team, which means that their main focus is to find the most effective communication solution to the business challenge.
Educate the team by sharing as much information of the big picture as possible. Establish clear expectations of the anticipated outcome to enable them for success as they’re developing the solution, then the work becomes a shared vision.
3. Open and respectful communication empowers the team to positively collaborate
Excluding comedy, there’s a reason why distinguished Radio/TV show hosts are excellent communicators. They use a smooth and respectful Socratic dialogue to comfortably open up the conversation and allow for a transparent exchange of information. This openness allows us to reach true positive collaboration and breaks down the dreadful ego.
4. Faith in the team’s abilities inspires members to explore and expand their potential
This is by far the most effective form of human motivation, to know that people believe in you and your abilities. This eliminates all barriers that we build for ourselves and puts us on the path of exploring our full potential. Faith in others is the greatest form of inspiration. By inspiring others, we become a channel of inspiration and in turn we feel inspired.
5. Leading from within exemplifies that success is an act of determination & perseverance
It’s easy to speak of leadership, but it takes a lot of strength and perseverance to act upon what we speak of. This increases our credibility amongst the group and makes it easier for others to trust what we say as words of honesty and courage. I’d really like to highlight the word ‘honesty’ as it is the most fundamental characteristic for being heard.
We all have our bad days. Days when we’re under more pressure than the usual or we are internally fighting some personal issues and we are mentally exhausted. I’m not saying that all conversations will be had with a big smile and with no showing of true feelings. The only way around bad days is to embrace intelligent patience blended with honesty.
6. Applying intrinsic motivation to enable team members to discover satisfaction at the job
Work with your team on increasing their satisfaction by:
- Focusing on the goals that give meaning to their work and elevate their self-esteem
- Introducing a new element to their work environment or sharing new information/material that stimulates their brain
- Ensuring that they are in control of the outcome of their work
- Presenting an environment where peers help each other but also compare their performance to others
- Facilitating recognition of each other’s accomplishment
Effective feedback is easier than you think
Here are a few proven ways of providing easy-to-digest and effective feedback:
1- Discuss feedback and understand rationale
When giving feedback, unless it is final revisions form the client to an already established piece of work, it’s of utmost necessity to take the time to discuss the reasoning behind it instead of putting it in a checklist that needs to be completed by EOD. Ask for the rationale behind the choices made by the creative team member(s) to come up with the solution.
If the rationale is lacking clarity, they could be in a creative block, so suggest to help positively brainstorm the solution as you shed more light on the bigger picture and objectives.
2- Present the challenge, not how to fix it
There’s nothing that annoys a creative person more than someone coming to them and commenting, “I don’t like it” or “yeah, this is ok, but…” rather, explain the challenge again and what has not been addressed or requires more attention. Let the creative person take ownership of their work and be accountable for it while you help them with a deeper understanding of the challenge.
The idea is simple; if you know the exact creative solution to the challenge then there is absolutely no need to engage someone else to do it.
3- Work with, not against
The creative team is part of your extended team, they’re on your side and they’re always on a quest to do their best work to satisfy their creative genius, so keep that in mind while discussing your feedback. Pointing fingers and laying blame does not in any way help their creative juices to flow and create.
I’m not suggesting that they shouldn’t be accountable for the errors that might occur, and they do occur, and only through errors do we learn how to do things better. However, in order to ensure the least amount of errors, teams require to be set up for success. Was the creative brief thorough enough? Ask them to reiterate in their own words their understanding of the challenge or suggest a quick regroup to answer any questions that they have.
So, the next time you’re providing feedback to your creative team and get the “I know, I know”, in most cases it’s not due to them being annoyed by you or the feedback, no, it is because they really do know, agree and want to improve.