Today, we got to chat with Becky Westwood, a psychologist and author of the newly released book Can I Offer You Something? Expert ways to overcome the horrors of organizational feedback,
Q) You recently put out the book ‘Can I Offer You Something? Expert ways to overcome the horrors of organizational feedback’ what need did you see in the world that made you want to draft this book?
During my career as an organisational psychologist and coach I have sat with many people who have been providers of feedback and those on the receiving end of it. I’ve seen the level of anxiety this process provokes in everyone involved and heard many horror stories of where this has been done inelegantly.
Despite this people still want feedback that will help them grow and develop in their careers so I became curious about how people could have a more productive and valuable relationship with it. Ultimately through my work and research it became clear that feedback has become an over complicated process often done to people or done because people ‘have to do it’. What I hope to do with my book is help people put the human back into sharing perspectives and get good quality insights that will help them to progress, develop and support others at work.
Q) How long have you been working on this project?
The short answer is 2 and a half years – this is how long it has taken to conduct the 2 research studies that contributed to the book and then write and produce ‘Can I Offer You Something’.
The longer answer is that it’s a topic that I have been close to for over 16 years since I started working in training and development. When I began specialising in working with people with social anxiety, hearing their experiences of work and life in an organisation I wanted to delve further into the relationship between feedback and anxiety. It was hearing these stories that inspired my first piece of research that looked specifically at the lived experiences of people with social anxiety and how they navigate feedback at work.
Q) Do you think that anxiety can get in the way of employee’s accepting feedback?
Yes, anxiety gets in the way of both receiving and providing feedback. This is not just connected to individuals that have a diagnosis of anxiety. Everyone experiences low level anxiety at times, and this is a sign your body is working as it should. Anxiety becomes a problem when it gets in the way of people doing the things they want and, diagnosis or not, this can include performing in your role at work and achieving your professional goals.
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to receiving feedback is the idea that it has to be accepted. Over time many things have been bundled under the label feedback; praise, judgements, opinions, recognition, constructive critique, directions. The list goes on. This lack of clarity about what people are getting is one of the biggest contributors to anxiety around receiving feedback. In my book I want to challenge both providers and recipients of feedback to get really clear about what is being exchanged. With this clarity the recipient can then choose what to do next with the insights.
Q) What things do you think managers need to be considering when they are providing feedback to employees?
There are many things that managers and leaders can consider when providing feedback to employees. Two of the most important points are first that there is no universal process to giving feedback that will work for everyone. If you have a process that your organisation wants to you use or that works for you, it’s also important that it works for the person on the receiving end. The best approach to getting it ‘right’ is to ask the individual in front of you what would work for them and together find a way of exchanging feedback that’s mutually valuable.
The second is that if you have something specific that you would like the employee to do with the information you are sharing with them then it’s not feedback. It’s a direction, and it’s really important to tell them this. I have seen many cases where leaders and mangers have not given this clarity to employees, hoping they will infer what to do from the conversation. Later this has led to repeat conversations, miss deadlines or deal with feelings of frustration when something hasn’t been done, Employees can end up feeling confused, anxious and equally frustrated by inadvertently dismissing crucial directions or prioritising the wrong things to work on.
Q) What is the best way for two people to begin a discussion, so everyone feels open and responsive?
In an ideal world people would first share how they are feeling about the discussion. I often wonder how differently a conversation would go if it started with “I really care about this, it’s important to me and I’m feeling a bit anxious about hearing/sharing…”
I know that this can be tricky for people to do in a work context. The next best thing is that two people are open to learning about each other’s style, preferences for feedback and to focus the discussion around developing in a certain way, or on a specific outcome. For example:
“I really like to get feedback in writing first so that I can reflect on it and come back to you with questions…”
“I really like to talk feedback through with you so that we can discuss any next steps you want to take, and I can offer my support…”
“I would really like to work towards improving my communication skills, do you have any perspectives on my performance in that last presentation…?”
Q) A lot of organizations have been cutting back on their diversity programs recently, do you think this is a mistake? What do you think they might be missing out by doing so?
Wisdom comes from multiple perspectives so for me it’s important for professional and personal development, creativity, innovation, and wellbeing (to name a few things) to be able to access, learn from and share diverse ways of thinking, different models of the world, different cultural perspectives, life experiences and more.
I am fortunate that the organisations I partner with, and volunteer for, work to provide and prioritise diversity programmes and foster environments where these perspectives and experiences can contribute to the organisations culture, the work the organisations do and their overall success.
Q) If people want more info about you or the book, where can they go?
If people would like more information, they can check out the dedicated book page on our website: https://monkeypuzzletraining.co.uk/books/can-i-offer-you-something or look out
https://www.linkedin.com/BECKYWESTWOOD
https://www.linkedin.com/company/monkey-puzzle-training-and-consultancy-limited/
Web: www.monkeypuzzletraining.co.uk
Final four questions – we ask everybody.
Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be?
Hiding under the stairs with my family and my guitar.
Q) What is your favorite Fandom
I have a few – right now I would say LingOrm and FayeYoko .
Q) What piece of art, be it in the form of music, a book, a film or picture, do you think people must experience before they die?
The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, in fact the whole museum of glass in Seattle.
Q) Give one fact that most people would not believe about you?
I love to collect, build and create with Lego – I have over 150 minifigures and 30 buildings.
Paper Phoenix ink 