“Good or Bad, Only God Knows.” You will hear this from my father all the time when he tries to make us appreciate the turn of events in our lives.
“Good or Bad, You Should Know.” This is mine when I try to make things happen and make people improve their performance all of the time.
With the presence of social media nowadays, communication has evolved a great deal. The process of receiving unfavorable feedback, which we know as constructive criticism is now more popularly known as BASHING.
We eat bashing for breakfast, we also enjoy it for lunch, and we cannot get enough of it until dinner. We enjoy it more when those negative feedback are directed towards others like celebrities, internet personalities, or popular people not within our reach. Oh, how we love writing on the comment boxes and hitting that share button for the world to know our thoughts!
However, we usually despise bashing and cringe when it is aimed at anyone close to us. We definitely get hurt when it is directly given to us. Or we can get more and more defensive when we receive it several times. It takes a while for a normal individual to accept the reason behind a negative feedback received.
While we know we want to know how we are doing, we do not create time to prepare ourselves in openly receiving feedback. And we even find it harder to ready ourselves in giving one.
On the other hand, the alternative terms for praises, positive feedback, or good deeds are more powerful today more than ever - Like and Share. Even if we find talking about positive behavior awkward oftentimes, the value of clicking an icon of an approving thumb and reposting information make it more meaningful every once in awhile.
Oftentimes, we rarely say to our restaurant staff, “Good job, for sweeping the floor right after a rush!” It is because we see it as their job and it is expected of them to do it with precision and accuracy.
We also don’t see the positive effect of telling our parents, “Dad, thanks for picking me up from school every day,” or “Mom, I love what is on my lunch box today.” Some may also find it uneasy to say, “Dad, thanks for calling to know how I am doing here in the office.” I guess, we only feel happy telling them all these on special occasions like birthdays, mother’s day, or father’s day. But what do we say to them in between those days?
Managers, supervisors, and team leaders have the responsibility to give and receive feedback. And in doing so, may you be reminded to T.H.I.N.K. before you SPEAK.
T – is it TRUE?
H – is it HELPFUL?
I – is it INSPIRING?
N – is it NECESSARY?
K - is it KIND?