FEEDBACK Friday!
Happy Friday to those who celebrate! Special thanks to the Heartland Juvenile Services Association for yesterday’s workshop. It was lots of fun. It was also cool to hear the insights of people with different professional perspectives. It would seem we face more similar challenges than I initially thought. The conference was for people who have a role in what happens to children once they encounter the justice system. As you can imagine, there are several difficult conversations that they are forced to have as part of their job. Every time a participant said they are often surprised/taken aback by something one of their clients says was an area that I really related to as a Hospitalist. The passion many of the participants demonstrated for the work they do for children that are often in tough spots, to put it extremely mildly, was very inspiring
Today on my hospital service is Feedback Friday. That is where we give Feedback and its Friday. A quick story about how I came upon one of the best resources for communication and being a professional I have ever read. The book is called Thanks for the Feedback. One day I was going to get coffee before going to round because I love doing that. At the coffee stand, I ran into someone that I went to medical school with but had not seen in 7-9 years. I was supposed to go round shortly after getting coffee but him and I sat down and discussed our jobs and education for like 45 minutes. It was one of the best conversations I have had in the hospital. During this conversation he recommended the book Thanks for the Feedback that details how we should receive feedback to benefit the most from it, even when it seems unhelpful. I incorporated the topics into how I give feedback and how I encourage others to give me feedback. I would say it has been a game changer for me. One of the main lessons that I have pulled from it is the idea of 3 different communication buckets are often labeled as feedback without being aware that they are three separate things. They discuss feedback includes appreciation, evaluation, and coaching. This can cause disconnection when a feedback giver will give only one of the three types of feedback and believe that they successfully provided feedback. Then when the feedback receiver says they never received feedback in general, what they really mean is that they wanted/were in need of the other two types of feedback. This excerpt is taken directly from the expectations document that I send to every member of my team in the hospital before I begin working with them…
“The three types of Feedback are 1. Appreciation 2. Evaluation 3. Coaching. I will meet with all of you at least once, hopefully more, every two weeks for a formal feedback session to help clarify how I can assist you in achieving your goals (this is coaching). This will be in addition to regular on the fly feedback that will usually take place with other members of the team present. This on-the-fly feedback will often not be clearly labeled as “Feedback” but it is an important aspect of making sure each of us become the best physician possible. It is important to listen to the “on the fly feedback” that is provided to each other so that we can all improve together as a unit, not just as isolated individuals (this is evaluation). Many of our days will begin with a discussion our personal lives and the interplay that work has with it. I hope it is clear that I genuinely enjoy getting to know and understand the teams I am privileged to spend my days with (this is appreciation). I expect all of you to hold me to the same standard and be there for me to help me become the best physician I can be by providing all three types of feedback. It is also worth considering what type of feedback you need most at this stage of your career and let me know. Those are discussions I greatly enjoy.”
Learners have often thanked me for this clarification of what to expect right at the outset of our time together. The safe environment established at the beginning goes a long way. This set up makes providing feedback to any and all learners much more enjoyable and beneficial. It becomes a process that helps the learner and helps me to better help future learners.
How is this related to improv you may ask? Well, first, I came across this book by saying Yes to the moment of catching up with a friend (all our patients were stable when this took place by the way). Next, being forced to categorize information quickly as it comes in on stage has helped me differentiate and be specific as I provided different types of feedback. Improv also has allowed me to take what I found to be the most fun on stage and continue to have even more fun with the idea. I use those same skills to find what aspects of my learner’s performance I find the most useful and then provide activities for them to continue to grow their skill set. Practicing reading body language and nonverbal cues on stage also let me know how the feedback I am giving is landing. I am someone who still gets uncomfortable any time I hear that someone will be providing me feedback, so I am empathetic to the feeling of being judged rather than viewing feedback as an opportunity to improve. The discussion of crowds yesterday also makes me think of when my learners provide feedback to me. Sometimes I get negative feedback (equivalent to no laughs on stage) because I missed the mark and sometimes, I get negative feedback (again no laughs on stage) because I was unclear of what was happening. Both are opportunities for me to improve. Also doing things to just get positive feedback from my learners (equivalent to laughs on stage) is a huge disservice to what I see my job to be in educating future physicians (this would be betraying the art form of improv for the crowd to see me as funny, discussed extensively in Truth in Comedy). The Healthcare improv workshops I have done have also shown the importance of establishing a safe environment right at the outset, otherwise everything you do until that is established is, more or less, a waste. Feedback is a challenging subject and improv has provided me a wonderful insight of myself and how I can better be a feedback giver and feedback receiver.
OK, off to give feedback!