Feedback

Giving or receiving feedback is a very important part in professional environment. Feedback if misunderstood can have a negative impact on people’s performance as feedback can be positive or negative. The art is that even negative feedback should be given in a way that receiver gets motivation out of it.

Giving Feedback:

•       Communicate your perception
•       Communicate the effect of what has been observed, then
•       Explain what is your expectation

Points to Remember:

•         Talk in “I” rather than “You” or “One”
•         Be precise
•         Have an eye contact
•         Don’t give judgment
•         Don’t try to insult the person
•         Keep your discussion balanced(i.e positive facts or deltas, don’t use “but”)
•     Receiving Feedback:
•         Don’t give justification, don’t get defensive
•         Listen actively and paraphrase it to communicate that the message is understood and absorbed.
•         Get in the “perception mode”
•         Reflect what you heard
•         Do not shoot or reload(no arguments)

Communication Feedback Styles

There are 2 different styles of Feedback Communication

Implicit	explicit
It relies on an existing pre-understanding	It creates a common context / understanding
Existing relations are continued	Defines the situation properly
Non verbal	Very precise(outspoken and verbal)
Based on Allusions/hints, undertones, abbreviations	Message is what is being said/clear
Message is what is being limited or what has been unsaid
Risk associated	Risk Associated
Not easy to understand, creates out groups	Lengthy and Boring

Conflicts in Projects

Conflicts are a way of life in a project structure and can generally occur at any level in the organization, usually as a result of conflicting objectives. It is sometimes said that conflicts are inevitable in projects, what is important is to be prepared to handle them.

The ability to handle  conflicts requires an understanding of why they occur. Asking and answering these four questions may help handle and prevent conflicts.

• What are the objectives and are they in conflict with other projects?
• Why do conflicts occur?
• How do we resolve conflicts?
• Is there any type of analysis that could identify possible conflicts before they occur?

Every project must have at least one objective and should be made know to all project personnel and managers at every level in the organization which if not done then it is possible that upper-line managers, project managers, and functional managers may all have different interpretation of the ultimate objective, a situation that invites conflicts.

Usually, if we categorize the causes of conflicts in projects they will be as follows with of their intensity starting from highest:

1. Schedule
2. Priorities
3. Manpower
4. Technical
5. Procedures
6. Personality
7. Costs