“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”At the heart of Agile is people.
– Bill Gates
Think about it - customers, cross-functional teams, stakeholders - are all part of the puzzle and one cannot be Agile without all the people components.
Agile teams are designed to work cross-functionally, where each team member’s output plays a part in fitting an entire puzzle together. Our success is codependent so one person finishing their task isn’t sufficient until everyone on the team has completed their work.
Working, proverbially, elbow to elbow with our team members, will inevitably cause friction and conflict. One way to channel this conflict constructively is to encourage our team members to give each other feedback.
Encourage them to consider the Scrum’s values of openness, commitment, courage, focus, and respect, and ask them to use this to drive the ‘spirit’ of how the feedback is given and received.
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Here are some points to consider when giving feedback
1 Ask yourself - is the recipient open to receiving feedback?2 Speak to the recipient privately. No one wants to receive feedback in a public setting. You want the person to hear what you have to say, without being distracted by who may be listening or for them to be trying to also process how everyone may be responding to what you’re saying.
3 Focus on the behaviour and not the person. You aren’t criticizing the individual. You want the recipient to be aware of the impact of their actions or words.
4 Don’t delay giving feedback. Give feedback as soon as you can. Delaying the conversation may cause details to fade in the individual’s mind.
5 Be realistic. Focus on changeable behaviour.
“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.” – Frank A. Clark
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Receiving Feedback
If you are on the receiving end of feedback, here are some points you can consider.
1 Listen carefully. Trust that the person is coming to you directly because they want to see you become the best professional and teammate you can possibly be. There is no ill-will or ill-intent.
2 Ask clarifying questions to make sure you understand and try to not be defensive, or dismissive or reluctant to hear what is being said.
3 Focus on the issue/behaviour and try not to feel like it’s a personal attack. We’ve all been there. It’s hard to hear that we may have said or done something that may have offended or hurt someone, so instead be committed to focusing on how you can express yourself differently or work differently amongst your teammate(s).
4 Thank the person for their feedback and apologize, if appropriate. No one is expecting an immediate change. No one is expecting that you may not slip up again. All that is required of you is that you bear the feedback in mind as you move forward. If you find that you’ve slipped up, do the right thing and make immediate steps to acknowledge that it wasn’t intended and that you haven’t forgotten the feedback you received.
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