Feedback - evaluation

Feedback as an evaluation technique is one of the most useful tools that a coach can apply with his clients. Sometimes we believe that criticism consists of saying negative things about the other person, when the essence behind criticism is nothing more than noting the facts from a constructive point of view, which allows us to learn from both triumphs and failures. Customers should be educated to accept criticism and get feedback, since this same tool should be mastered by them in the creation of their companies and products.

Here is a brief explanation of feedback, what it consists of and how it should be given.

What is feedback?

Feedback as a concept is the strategy that consists of issuing information in order to receive it later with certain modifications. When a company asks its customers for feedback on a certain product, it first launches the product or a primary version of it, which would be the information issued, the customers will tell the company which aspects of the product they like the most and those that should be eliminated, this information is received and processed by the company for subsequent improvement of the product.

Once this process has been carried out, the aim is to obtain an improved final version of the product.

Feedback can be given on a company, a service, a person's work, financial performance, etc.

Positive aspects

Feedback is intended to highlight the positive and negative aspects of what we are trying to measure. The positive aspects that are highlighted during this process should be valued and enhanced by the company. It is very valuable to know which are the most liked points of what we have requested feedback on, because this will mean that they must be taken care of in order to maintain the expected results.

If the feedback in question is about the performance of one of our clients in the elaboration of his business plan, this client must know that his business plan can be modified but always respecting the aspects in which good results have been obtained and in any case enhancing them so that they stand out over others that are not so significant.

Negative aspects

The negative aspects that stand out in the feedback we receive are more important than the positive ones. Although a very valuable strategy in marketing is to know how to enhance the virtues, the small defects that we leave along the way can completely ruin the expected results.

Continuing with the previous example, a business plan that has a very well elaborated vision of the company will still be a failure in the eyes of investors if it has not taken care of the rest of the points to be elaborated. That is why we say that the negative aspects can be more significant, because the positive ones point out points that we have already achieved successfully, while the negative ones indicate pending tasks.

Almost everyone who seeks feedback but has not prepared for it, likes to receive information only on the negative aspects, since criticism can be painful when it is misinterpreted. Early feedback that helps us to correct weaknesses can save us a lot of work and money in the future. We must know how to recognize and thank the person who criticizes us, this person is spending his time on us and is responding to a request that we have made voluntarily, since as explained above, the first message issued is ours, while the feedback received is nothing more than the response to the message with certain modifications.