The following activity has been provided by Shay McConnon (An Even Better Place to Work) and is one of a series of safe, short and fun activities on a number of key employee engagement themes such as giving feedback, managing differences, ownership, openness, motivation and feeling valued. It is ideal for when time is limited and you are looking for a quick activity to improve engagement levels and can be used as part of a team meeting, lunch ‘n’ learn sessions etc or combined with other activities for a longer session.
Feedback activities aim to create an environment where feedback becomes the norm and is seen as a valuable tool for improving working relationships and performance.
Activity: How can I..?
Objective: To demonstrate proactive feedback and how it benefits the team.
Group Size: Pairs
Time: 20 minutes
Materials: None required
Notes: Proactive feedback will reduce conflict and dysfunction in the team. It is a bit like putting your car in for a service rather than waiting for it to break down on the motorway. Encourage people to proactively invite feedback from their colleagues as a way to prevent bad feelings, misunderstanding and conflict.
Instructions:
- In pairs, take it in turns to ask “How can I help you do your job even better?”
- Rules : Only clarification questions are allowed – no defensiveness, argument or debate – this is a listening and getting information exercise.
- After 1 minute, find another partner. Continue for three or four rounds with the same question.
- Repeat with the following questions:
- How can I show you even more appreciation?
- How can I show you even more support?
- How can I understand your issues even more?
- Review:
- How useful has that been?
- How dies inviting feedback like this benefit the team?
- Would it be good to get this habit of feeding back into the lifestyle of the team?
- How?
- Are there any team or personal goals we want to agree?
- Record any team or personal goals.
A PDF version of the activity is available for download using the ‘View and Download’ link below, on the right