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Tips for Giving Feedback

By Elena Aguilar — March 23, 2014 1 min read
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I love it when this happens: I’m preparing to do a workshop tomorrow on giving feedback, and then today I saw this blog entry referencing the work of Brené Brown, whom I deeply appreciate, on giving feedback. The ten tips that Brené Brown offers for giving feedback are transformational. I offer my own tips for giving feedback in my book--and they’re foundational and very helpful for when working with teachers. But Brown’s suggestions could push the act of giving feedback into a whole new realm. And I’m always looking to venture into new realms.

Brené Brown’s Ten Tips for Giving Feedback

I know I am ready to give feedback when:

1) I’m ready to sit next to you rather than across from you.
2) I’m willing to put the problem in front of us rather than between us (or sliding it toward you).
3) I’m ready to listen ask questions, and accept that I may not fully understand the issue.
4) I want to acknowledge what you do well instead of picking apart your mistakes.
5) I recognize your strengths and how you can use them to address your challenges.
6) I can hold you accountable without shaming or blaming you.
7) I’m willing to own my part.
8) I can genuinely thank you for your efforts rather than criticize you for your failings.
9) I can talk about how resolving these challenges will lead to your growth and opportunity.
10) I can model the vulnerability and openness that I expect to see from you.

You can see it, right? How if we used these ten tips, the feedback we’d give (and receive!) would be transformational. They suggest such a completely different stance we’d all be taking, a different world we’d be creating.

These tips are going to take me a while to process, integrate and practice. I know they’ll become a core tool in my work. I hope you find them equally provocative, inspiring, and transformational.

The opinions expressed in The Art of Coaching Teachers are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.