We know that you want to leave the industry better than when you started. One way that you can do that is by supporting a new approach to feedback that promotes better colleague relationships, lifelong learning, continuous improvement, and effective professional and personal development. As you progress through your career, you will likely become skilled at providing positive and productive feedback; however, there is also a more positive and productive approach to receiving and accepting feedback.
Just as your technical skills become further refined, your interpersonal and communication skills can also become increasingly sophisticated—for your benefit as well as for the benefit of all those around you, including your patients. A renewed, improved approach to feedback is long overdue and has historically eluded dentistry and medical circles for several reasons.
The problem with feedback as we know it
While dental schools, associations, and other industry and professional organizations may say that they recognize the feedback process as an essential part of the educational process, little actual legwork has been done to empower the receivers/learners to not only properly and gracefully accept feedback but also (and importantly) incorporate and use it to move forward.
Researchers who have studied feedback in clinical practices note that improvements in the process have been held back by the traditionally hierarchical nature of the health care environment. This hierarchy promotes only a “one-way flow” of information, and that is from teacher to learner. It disregards or undervalues the importance of how the learner interprets, responds, and applies the feedback imparted by the teacher.
The broader medical environment and traditional processes and relationships also assume too much about our human abilities to properly interpret information on our own and to self-assess our abilities, skills, and performance. In part, we may fall back on self-assessment due to our lack of setting aside the time in our very busy professional lives to glean outside perspective on our progress, performance, strengths, and “areas for opportunity” or growth. When feedback is provided, properly interpreting, incorporating, and tracking progress on how it is applied may also be missed due to the lack of time and due to the traditional, hierarchical, and inflexible structure mentioned above.
The problem with self-assessment is that we are notoriously bad at it! There are also numerous reasons for this, from the tendency to “mis-estimate” our own abilities and character, to deficits in information that present barriers to accurate evaluations. The last point brings us full circle to the “other side of the coin,” the teacher who is imparting the feedback to us. The onus also falls on this individual or leader. Improvements may be for both those who are giving the input and those who are digesting and actively incorporating it. In fact, the healthiest relationships on this front are those where the “teacher” is also open to learning and being taught.
A healthy feedback process is characterized in part by those in an educator role asking about your preferences—how you, as a learner, would like to receive feedback. These teachers foster an open, psychologically safe environment. The educator is also open to feedback about how well they communicate, inspire, and motivate you as a learner. Take the best from this relationship and from what is learned by those skilled at providing feedback and incorporate it into your own processes and relationships as you move through your career and guide others to be the best versions of themselves.
The art of acceptance and action
Now that you know what to avoid as it relates to traditional approaches and relationships, always keep the following fresh perspectives and steps top of mind when learning and growing through external insights:
- Connect well and often. It is never too early to benefit from honest feedback. In fact, if you are still in school, try to foster the types of relationships with your instructors where you feel comfortable maintaining an open dialogue about your progress. When this is established, professors and faculty will also be more likely to offer their unsolicited insights without your having to ask, as they know that you value it and are serious about learning from this information. Through this relationship with your instructors, you have eliminated a major obstacle to what is an undeniably powerful tool for continuous improvement and development when wielded properly.
- Take initiative. By developing powerful connections in dental school and early in your career, you have the confidence and familiarity with the process to not simply sit back and let the pearls of wisdom flow your way. You may be waiting for a very long time if that is the tack you take, given how busy some of the top clinicians and teachers may be. As you know with your patients, often all it takes to transform outcomes is to point out the problem. When one is aware of something, it remains front and center. The mentor or more senior professional will likely pay closer attention to your on-the-job performance now that you have pointed out your desire for ongoing feedback—not just in times of crisis but as a part of the fabric of your work culture and day-to-day tasks and responsibilities.
- Be graceful in accepting positives. All too often, feedback is associated with the negative, and in a poor work culture or environment, that may be the only time that professionals hear about how they are doing. This is wrong. We have become too comfortable with this approach to the process. Due to our comfort level with only hearing about what we did wrong or our weaknesses, we can actually become uncomfortable when we hear something positive about our performance and progress. Given the power of understanding our strengths, it is essential to take this feedback as seriously as we might take information regarding “areas for improvement.” After all, there is significantly greater potential in taking our natural strengths to the next level. We can improve upon our weaknesses, but we can reach truly transformative heights of performance by further refining our strengths and learning how to leverage them effectively.
When you are provided with these types of insights, immediately do the following:
- Thank the “teacher” for the feedback. They are playing an important role in transforming the process of dental care. They demonstrate how to “do feedback the right way” by not focusing solely on the negative and imparting wisdom only when things go awry.
- Speak and behave confidently in response to this valuable information. Do not act embarrassed, like you do not deserve it, or even incredulous. A simple “thank you” will do. You earned it.
- Really listen to the details. Take note of these strengths so you can better understand how to build upon them and what to do with these inherent talents, skills, and proclivities. True success is not a destination but rather a journey. We should all seek continual improvement, regardless of whether we have practiced for two years or twenty-plus years.
- Take the emotion out of it – This is likely the hardest pill to swallow. It is essential not to take the information provided to you personally. This is not a reflection on you, but rather your specific actions in a moment in time. Such a distinction is important to keep throughout your work life, as too much of our identity is wrapped up in our work, especially in the health care field. You are not just a white coat. When you retain objectivity in accepting feedback, you get the most out of the wisdom and insights from others who have walked the path before you.
It is critical to maintain a clear head. You cannot effectively listen, comprehend, learn, and grow from the information when you are offended by the comments or are consumed by other negative emotions. In fact, if you do find yourself experiencing these emotions unexpectedly, it is best to step away momentarily. Take a breather. Only when you feel calmer and can retain objectivity, should you really consider, further digest, and engage with the information.
- Develop SMART action plans and revisit them frequently. What good is feedback in theory when it simply sits on a shelf and does not get properly incorporated into your life? We urge you to go beyond proper acceptance of these insights to actually integrating them. You can do this by developing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound/Timely goals around the details associated with your feedback. You should regularly assess your progress in reaching identified goals. Your steps and strategy should also evolve and be adjusted as needed, based partly on newer feedback from your most admired teachers, mentors, and leaders.
There is expertise all around you, but too often the wisdom is missed or underutilized due to taking the approach of “we’ve always done it like this.” We know you want to leave your positive mark on the profession, and it is never too early to start by rethinking your perception of feedback and the process that supports these opportunities to be your best in and out of the office.
About the author:
Naren Arulrajah, President and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, has been a leader in medical marketing for over a decade. Ekwa provides comprehensive marketing solutions for busy dentists, with a team of more than 180 full time professionals, providing web design, hosting, content creation, social media, reputation management, SEO, and more.