'FEEDBACK- GIVE IT GOOD OR BAD!"

Feedback – Give it Good or Bad

Wow, what a great meeting we had. We were immediately welcomed into a meeting room that was set up completely differently than it has been in the past – you knew there was a new Toastmaster for this week!  We started on time, went through a slight road bump as we couldn’t find the stop watch and then the Toastmaster read the Mission Statement.

Darryl introduced our first speaker Laurel and proceeded to tell us that Laurel’s objectives were to persuade with power and appeal to the interests of the audience with no notes in a time of 5-7 minutes.  Laurel’s speech, entitled Breakfast of Champions, explained about giving feedback in challenging situations – essentially feedback needs to be digestible, nourishing and palatable.

Laurel gave an example of someone whose drinking had gotten out of control and how giving feedback in this instance is critical due to the ongoing harm and danger it can present to both the alcoholic and others around them.  Start with preparation and be perceptive when it comes to giving feedback.  Laurel drew a very comprehensive roadmap for feedback which included being truthful, respectful and responsive.  Everyone was very impressed and wrote down the diagram for future reference. Overall a wonderful guide for giving constructive feedback in difficult situations.  Darryl tested us later when asking had Laurel passed all her objectives.  Are you persuaded to follow Laurel's advice? To which we responded – yes we wrote it down – we would use it!  Great commendations for Laurel by Darryl. Two recommendations – he was not sure about the title Breakfast of Champions and how this tied into her speech, and more movement needed around the stage by Laurel next time.  Overall a very persuasive speech.

Helen then introduced Anna who told us that she would be getting us to be her audience of staff selected to give feedback to their employer on improvement and getting results by consensus. Our scenario was Petrol Station employees and Anna was facilitating a meeting to understand ways we could improve our working environment and boost staff confidence.  Anna lead a great feedback session and suggestions were made such as boosting confidence through better communication lead from the top down, better toilets and staff areas, better promotions (including more competitive pump prices) and staff competitions.

Overall a great general discussion was had and Anna took away some good ideas for building confidence in the workplace.  Helen advised, Anna had a difficult audience to manage and did well with this.  Helen told us the actual time for Anna’s speech was 31-37 minutes and Anna had a lot to fit into 19 minutes.  She commended Anna on her use of yellow cards for writing up the feedback not just verbalising it, and that Anna had set the scene well.  Helen recommended that she use the word “could” instead of “should” when talking about the sales of the organisation and that when asked about the uniform, Anna said “people wear black pants” and perhaps could use “Team Members wear black pants” so that the group could feel more inclusive instead of separated.  Overall Anna had awkward questions from the audience and handled these very well.

The meeting finished on time and everyone again commented on the set up – some liking the new layout of the room and others not sure if this would work for a normal meeting as this meeting was all about a facilitator being in the front and including the audience in the presentation. Overall another successful Pania Toastmasters meeting, well controlled by our Toastmaster, Patrick! and kept to time by the Timekeeper, Linda.

Best Speech: Laurel Francis

Best Evaluator: Darryl Baxter

Table Topics – none this week