Gratitude Enables Meaningful Feedback

Feedback is the cornerstone of making your organisation successful. It enables it to thrive and grow. Both giving and receiving feedback are essential components of our working life. In fact, the Emotional Intelligence network said that 69% of employees would like more feedback! The power of gratitude is the fuel of feedback's fire. When feedback is given (and acted upon) correctly, it can change the whole trajectory of your organisation.

Before we can give effective feedback, we need to establish rapport with our team members. Gratitude helps to create a psychologically safe space; it connects people and strengthens relationships.

When we practise deep gratitude, we will be more empathetic. We will be able to see ourselves from the other person's point of view. We will understand their kind actions, and actively seek them out to find reasons to express gratitude.

We need to be prepared to give and receive feedback. The power of gratitude facilitates active listening, and when we really take time to understand what people are concerned by, we will build a solid foundation for open communication, and this will include giving and receiving feedback. It will create an atmosphere where feedback is readily received, and it will model the language of feedback for the other team members to use when they have to give feedback.

We can go even further and use gratitude to drive the team to be more productive by thanking them for their efforts before they even undertake the necessary task. They will be empowered and driven to repay the initial expression of gratitude.

We can use gratitude to 'sandwich' constructive feedback. If we start and end the feedback with something positive it will be easier to get our message across without causing any offence.

In meetings, it is always good to make the participants feel it's "our meeting", not just yours! Create an open environment where everyone feels that their contributions are valid and taken on board. If we use gratitude to build rapport with our teams it will make giving feedback easier.

Remember feedback is meant to help, it is rooted in truth and meant to help you improve. Try to separate your emotions from the situation. Try to focus on the facts that will improve the team's performance. This will make the feedback more impactful. If the meeting is charged with emotion, people will become defensive and that may negatively impact the team's ability to progress. If the whole team can look at the feedback objectively and use it to set reachable targets. We will be able to see every challenge as an opportunity.

In addition to giving constructive feedback, gratitude is a key component in receiving feedback. Rather than taking it as personal criticism, thank the giver of the feedback for seeing how we can do even better. Feedback is part of life; it's the only way a team or organisation can change for the better. Prepare yourself for feedback by using the power of gratitude to look inwardly and analyse your own situation. Living gratefully means we will be grateful for our skills and help us to discover how we can employ those skills to make our teams more successful, and it will make us more open to change.

Whether we are giving or receiving feedback, gratitude will make the feedback smoother. If we build the rapport and strengthen the lines of communication, practising deep gratitude daily means that we will be closer as team members and better humans! This makes the whole feedback process easier and more productive. So, let's empower our teams to be even more productive through the power of gratitude!