PMI Global Insights

By Johanna Rusly

Have you ever pondered a question regarding how valuable your feedback is? In today's growing global marketplace, there is an increasing need to grow and improve, both personally and organizationally, and your feedback greatly helps to make it happen.

In this consumer and producer’s world, each one of us can possibly wear multiple hats. Maybe you’ve given feedback on the products or services that you use, or you’ve received feedback from others. Remember on the reviews that you gave on the any products that you’ve purchased online? Or the feedback that you received from your family members on the new recipe that you’ve just tried? Each of the feedback helps the receivers in learning the strengths and weakness of their respective products and services, formulating the plan and strategies to creating the “next” version of products and services that offer improved values to their users or customers. I’ve also discovered that there are also many famous people who have shared great quotes regarding feedback:

• “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” (Bill Gates)
• “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” (Ken Blanchard)
• “Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth.” (Doc Rivers)
• “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” (Elon Musk)
• “Mistakes should be examined, learned from, and discarded; not dwelled upon and stored.” (Tim Fargo)
• “Make feedback normal. Not a performance review.” (Ed Batista)

In my session, I'll start with understanding the drive and motivation behind feedback. How does feedback drive personal, project teams, and organizational growth? As with everything else, it’s easier and simpler to start from small – at the personal level - your direct community members or team members. How can we make continuous improvement to create more values for others or help others in achieving their personal or professional goals? For example, how can I improve from an average singer, musician, cook, writer, speaker to be a better one? Then, we can aim for a broader scope; for example, the goal can be to bring the value of the tasks that we typically perform or the products and services we deliver to the next level.

Learning to give and receive feedback can be a daunting task. That’s why in this session, I’ll also share some tips to help us harness the power of some common or uncommon feedback sources, plan an effective feedback cycle, give valuable feedback, and leverage the power of feedback to support your personal, project team’s or organization's success.

Interested in learning more and furthering the dialogue on this topic? Join me on Wednesday, 2 June for the Virtual Experience Series 2021 and take part in the question and answers with me and the rest of the PM community during Session 322: Do You Know that Your Feedback Can Be Worth a Million Dollars?