Feedback is a frequently used tool in companies, regardless of their size. It’s a two-way communication process or conversation that serves to let employees know how they’re performing their work, which tasks or aspects are going well and can be further improved, and which others require improvement. All this is to help the recipient of the messages continue to learn and improve their work.

In this regard, this process, also known as performance evaluation, remains a challenging or critical process in organizations, as most people are not prepared to give or receive “criticism, no matter how constructive it may be.”

Therefore, misunderstandings often arise when conclusions are drawn a priori, without fully considering the other side.

In that sense, and on this topic, I share the conclusions and lessons learned from someone who, upon taking on a new strategic role within their organization, receives feedback from both the internal clients of the department they will lead and from the team that makes up their department, which is initially discouraged and experiencing low morale.

Based on this prior diagnosis, the intervention with the team focused on establishing three virtues that should always be present in these exercises.

• Truthfulness: Understanding the truth of the facts, what has happened with the process, or with someone in particular within it. To do this, you must listen and remain silent, both internally (without prejudging or judging in advance) and externally.
• Prudence: Process the information you wish to give or receive, be thoughtful about it, and consider the circumstances, the location, and whether it’s appropriate to say something at that particular moment.
• Charity: What I’m about to express, I must do so with respect and affection. The sensible thing to do is to tell the truth, but always with cordiality. This helps create a better atmosphere within the team; it will either add something positive to people’s lives or, on the contrary, make the situation worse.

Finally, the main lesson is associated with finding opportunity in difficulty or adversity by listening and embracing the feelings of those involved, so that the leader generates an environment of trust and thus motivates and inspires people to follow him or her in pursuit of the objectives and goals set.

Therefore, I invite you to extrapolate these conclusions and lessons to any circumstance in our lives, starting with our family environment. You will see how we continue to create better environments in our society.

To conclude, I bring to mind a quote from Viktor Frankl, author of the famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning: “Everything can be taken from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms: the right to choose one’s attitude in the face of adversity, to choose one’s own path.”

Cheer up, I invite you to see difficulties as an opportunity to make a change and thus continue rowing against the current!