" The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you "
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The Art of Giving & Receiving Feedback in the Workplace
The benefits of feedback in the workplace are many. However, feedback needs to be given and received effectively. Giving effective feedback means achieving the desired results while, at the same time, making sure that all parties involved are respected. Receiving feedback effectively means making the most of feedback and seeing it as a learning opportunity, rather than as a personal attack. Giving and receiving feedback is important both for constructive feedback (whereby you seek to change or improve behaviour) and positive feedback (for reinforcing good behaviour).
Unfortunately, many people do not know how to receive and give feedback effectively. Some people are unclear or come across as aggressive when giving feedback. When it comes to receiving feedback, some people go on the defensive or refuse to accept responsibility. The good news is that giving and receiving feedback is a skill that people can learn. Training your employees and managers on giving and receiving feedback effectively at work can reap many benefits, including:
- Reducing conflict
- Reducing errors
- Improving productivity
- Supporting employee engagement and motivation
- Increasing productivity
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Identify why feedback is important and what the different types of feedback are.
- Develop skills and implement plans to give effective feedback.
- Develop best practices to seek and receive feedback.
- Build an action plan to develop and practice your feedback skills.
Conflict Management
Conflict is unavoidable. It is part of living and working with other people. However, conflict can become constructive if we know how to handle conflict.
Conflict management strategies training is therefore important both in the workplace and in private life. In the workplace specifically, when we do not address conflict, it can either fester or escalate. Either way, it can create divisions and stress, which will affect a company’s productivity.
Unresolved conflict not only stops people from working effectively together, but it also creates a toxic environment. This makes employees feel stressed, which means that are more likely to suffer in terms of health and be off sick more often. It also makes them feel unappreciated causing higher turnover in the company as employees look for work elsewhere.
On the other hand, teams that can handle conflict constructively are a winning force for a company. So, why should any company not want its employees to become successful at managing and resolving conflict?
So, training employees on conflict management will help a company:
- Increase productivity – as employees do not waste time arguing and work better together.
- Reduce unfavourable employee turnover.
- Reduce employee sickness levels by reducing stress.
- Improve employee’s motivation and commitment (as overcoming conflict can give them a sense of accomplishment and achievement).
- Save time and money – as conflict resolution procedures are expensive and time-consuming once the conflict has escalated to unmanageable levels.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Discuss what conflict is, how it develops, and the different types of conflict.
- Identify methods and strategies to manage conflict.
- Identify the skills needed to deal with conflict effectively.
- Outline the steps of a conflict resolution plan.
Listening Skills
The ability to communicate effectively is essential in business. However, our ability to communicate well is seriously undermined if this is not underpinned by good listening skills. This workshop provides participants with basic but effective techniques to ensure that they listen effectively on a consistent basis.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Explain why listening skills are important
- Identify key reasons why we can fail to listen effectively
- Adopt simple techniques they can always use to ensure that they listen effectively
Prioritizing – Planning
Prioritising and planning are crucial elements required by everyone in their business and personal life.
Without planning your time and prioritising what is important to you, it is impossible to identify with the activities that are most productive. Where we are not focused on the elements that make us effective, we can begin to waste time and energy on the myriad of mundane tasks that tend to appear, and this can lead to stress and anxiety.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Explain why listening skills are important
- Identify key reasons why we can fail to listen effectively
Psychological Safety At the workplace
Psychological safety in the workplace refers to a team climate in which employees feel comfortable expressing their opinions, admitting mistakes, giving and receiving feedback, suggesting improvements, and pointing out problems without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or rejection by the rest of the team.
In a psychologically safe team, all members have equal rights to express themselves, regardless of their position, job title, or rank.
Psychological safety has been found to greatly increase:
- Employee Motivation
- Commitment
- Morale
- Creativity
- Problem-solving ability
- Employee Engagement
- Productivity
Psychological safety encourages a team to develop a learning culture in the workplace. This means that employees are encouraged to learn and develop and see errors, problems, and constructive feedback as learning opportunities rather than as setbacks.
This learning culture is particularly important in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous socio-economic reality such as the one that we face today. This is because this mindset helps a company be more adaptable, flexible, and innovative.
Psychological safety is based on the social dynamic of a team, rather than simply at individuals. This is why the role of the leader is key. A leader needs to drive psychological safety at work but, if they cannot do that, it is unlikely that team members will develop it on their own.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Identify what psychological safety is and why it’s important.
- Pinpoint the things that undermine psychological safety.
- Analyse the factors that drive psychological safety.
- Start to develop a strategy to support psychological safety in your team.
Inclusive Leadership
It is important for an organization, today, to employ a diverse workforce, which includes people from different backgrounds and with a variety of characteristics. However, it is not enough to make sure that a company has a diverse workforce. Every member of the employees also needs to feel included. Everybody needs to have equality of opportunities, access to targeted support for their specific needs, and, very importantly, every member of the employees needs to feel that they can express their ideas and opinions without fear and that everybody’s input is equally welcomed. Unfortunately, what often happens is that a company hires a diverse workforce without working on inclusion. Companies often assume that, once they are hired, people from different backgrounds will automatically start working well together.
This is not always the case though as entrenched practices, based on prejudice and unconscious biases, can get in the way of inclusion. So, a company needs to make a conscious effort to change the culture within the organization. If a company does not foster inclusive working practices, both in terms of interpersonal relationships between colleagues and in terms of work processes, people may start feeling alienated. They risk feeling as though they do not belong, which causes high employee turnover, high absence rates, conflict, miscommunication, and low productivity as a result. Team leaders and managers are key to ensuring the development of an inclusive work environment. This is why training managers on inclusive management and leadership skills are so important, as leaders need to drive the change towards inclusion in the workplace.
Inclusive leadership has many benefits for an organization, such as:
- More engaged, productive, innovative, and creative employees
- Attracting top talent from all walks of life
- Employees who work better together
- Market expansion and understanding a wide range of customers
- Better reputation and a stronger brand appeal
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Identify what diversity and inclusion are and why they are both important in business.
- Pinpoint the characteristics of inclusive leadership.
- Apply strategies and develop a plan to make their leadership style more inclusive.
