Giving and Receiving Feedback

How Will This Session Help Me Get Ready For Work?

In any workplace, receiving feedback on your work and offering suggestions to colleagues is essential for learning and growth. However, many people find feedback scary—worrying about looking incompetent, making mistakes, or causing upset. Giving and receiving feedback is not about finding fault; it is about building confidence, improving your skills, and helping your whole team perform better. By learning how to ask for feedback actively, ask thoughtful questions, and choose respectful language, you will build the professional bravery needed to turn every workplace conversation into a stepping stone for success.

Questions to get started

  • Think about a time when someone gave you advice or pointed out a mistake in your work. How did you react in that moment? What did you think?

  • Why do you think many people find it difficult to ask their manager or colleagues for feedback on how they are doing?

Focused Virtues

The Focused Virtue for this session is Courage.

Courage gives us the strength to ask for honest input on our work, listen to constructive advice without becoming defensive, and share helpful thoughts with others respectfully.

Ask Yourself: "Can I grow in courage to seek out feedback, ask clear questions to understand it, and choose thoughtful language when supporting others?"

Seek input bravely, listen with an open mind, speak with kindness.

Skills Development:

Managing workplace feedback requires genuine courage. Looking at feedback with bravery allows you to see it as a valuable tool for personal development rather than a personal attack.

First, seek feedback actively. True professional growth starts by taking the initiative to ask managers, colleagues, or customers how you are doing. It takes courage to ask for their opinions, but actively asking for feedback shows maturity, reliability, and a strong desire to improve.

Second, check your understanding. When someone offers feedback, it is natural to feel panic or defensiveness. Courage helps you pause, listen carefully, and check that you have understood their points correctly before reacting. Rephrasing what you have heard ensures you do not misinterpret their advice.

Third, ask clarifying questions. If feedback feels vague, confusing, or overwhelming, use thoughtful questions to explore it further. Asking questions like "Could you give me an example?" or "What is one specific thing I could change next time?" helps you gather practical information you can actually use.

Finally, choose your language carefully. When offering feedback to colleagues, the words you select matter. Courage means speaking up when something needs improving, but doing so using clear, polite, and constructive language that focuses on the task rather than attacking the person. ‘Could we keep this area tidy’? Rather than ‘You are really messy’.

By actively seeking input, checking what you hear, asking the right questions, and choosing respectful language, you develop the workplace courage needed to continuously grow and succeed.

Interview Practise: Case Studies and Questions

  • "Can you give an example of a time when you actively asked for feedback on a task or project? How did you use that advice to improve?"

  • "Describe a situation where you received feedback that you found difficult or unclear. How did you handle the conversation?"

Case Study

Anita is three weeks into her new role in an office. She completes a daily report and sends it to her supervisor, who replies with a brief message saying: "This needs a lot of work before it's ready for the manager." Anita feels embarrassed, worried that she is bad at her job, and wants to hide from her supervisor for the rest of the day. How can Anita use courage to turn this feedback into a positive learning experience?

Useful Resources:

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/listening-step-3-checking 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/listening-step-8-questioning 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/speaking-step-6-choosing-language 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/planning-step-13-seeking-feedback

Guidance and Resources for Facilitators

Many entry-level and EAL learners view feedback as a negative experience—associating it with failure, criticism, or disciplinary action. Your role as a facilitator is to guide them using courage—helping them take ownership of seeking feedback, decode received advice calmly, and use constructive language when communicating with peers.

Core Concepts & Background Information

  1. Seeking Feedback & Checking Understanding

    • Proactive Growth: Seeking feedback means regularly asking specific questions ("How did I handle that customer?") to guide personal development.

    • Verifying Accuracy: Checking understanding involves rephrasing received input ("So what you're saying is...") to ensure the core message is clear without assumptions.

  2. Questioning & Language Choice

    • Strategic Clarification: Asking open questions helps break vague feedback down into actionable, bite-sized steps.

    • Constructive Phrasing: Choosing language carefully means using neutral, supportive phrasing (e.g., "I noticed..." rather than "You always...") to keep discussions productive.

Overcoming Common Barriers

  1. The "Feedback Means I'm Bad at My Job" Barrier

    • Reframing: Entry-level workers often worry that receiving advice means they are failing. Reframe feedback as professional "data" that helps them build workplace competence faster.

    • Simple Prompts:

      • "Why does asking for feedback actually make you look capable and professional to a boss?"

      • "What is one positive thing you can learn from a mistake?"

  2. Language Anxiety and Defensive Triggers

    • Reframing: EAL learners may struggle to find polite phrasing on the spot, leading to silence or defensive reactions. Provide clear, functional conversational scripts.

    • Simple Prompts:

      • "What simple question can you ask when you don't understand the advice someone gives you?"

      • "How does taking a pause help you choose calmer words when listening to feedback?"

  3. Classroom Activity: The Feedback Exchange & Clarification Role-Play

    • Pair up learners. Give them a practical scenario (e.g., "A colleague tells you your shift handover notes were confusing"). Practice a 3-step conversation:

      1. Check understanding: "So you felt the notes were missing key details?"

      2. Ask a clarifying question: "Which specific part was unclear so I can fix it?"

      3. Agree an action: "Thanks, I will write down the order numbers next time."

Delivery Tips for the Session

  • Keep Language Accessible: Translate abstract terms into plain language: "checking understanding" becomes "double-checking what you heard."

  • Model Constructive Feedback: Demonstrate how to give feedback using supportive language during classroom exercises.

  • Provide Visual Prompts: Display sentence starters on the board (e.g., "Could you explain what you mean by...?", "Thank you for pointing that out...") to support speaking and listening.