First of all, thank you. Many read this blog and in some way or another react, give me feedback. And that is what I would like to write about today.

Last Friday, the executive committee spent time discussing the importance and value of feedback for us as individuals, for us as a team, for us as an organisation. Negative but also positive feedback. At times, a candid, honest but tough conversation can do wonders. On the other hand, many underestimate the power of recognising, of congratulating, of appreciating others for what they have done or achieved. By the way, the employee survey we held recently was an important instrument of feedback we used to that end.

Organisations can be described in their quality of direction (do we know where we are heading?), quality of renewal (do we rethink and improve ourselves?) and quality of interaction (do we have value adding dialogues?). It is on the latter that we worked, starting with ourselves. The better people interact, the more fluid an organisation runs. For me this means feeding back as well as understanding other points of view. And, with the saying "change the world, start with yourself" in mind, that's what I am going to start with myself.

Regards,

Chris

The capacity of giving and handling feedback is strongly related to the willingness of taking the risk being VULNERABLE and that’s not evident in our society of being strong and behaving as a winner.

Giving and handling feedback is however what makes us and our society really strong and what makes us a winner.

Mieke