A631.3.3RB_SeabournBeau

Personally, I've never thought of how important feedback might be to an organization. The reading this week states, “frequent, relevant, and specific feedback is important for goal setting to be a success” (Brown, 2011). I reference that because in my career field, feedback and long term goals are essential to being successful. When I was training to become an air traffic controller, we had to set a map of how we were going to complete our training and qualification programs and we set long term goals for ourselves. Once training commenced, we would receive feedback about our performance immediately after we were done. This allowed us to know how we did that day and what steps could be taken to be more effective the next time. Initially, some of the older controllers were not on board with giving all of this feedback, they wanted the younger group to learn my trial and error and learn for themselves “the hard way”.  I link that into the observation that “generation Y” wants feedback faster. I feel as though if we know what we are doing, either right or wrong, when it happens, we can mentally take a note of what to improve upon for next time.

I look at goals as a very positive tool in any leadership role. Where do you want to go from here? How can I help others succeed? Feedback is a form of constrictive communication between employees. One source states “poor communication can disrupt a team’s performance and sometimes these disruptions are caused by personality clashes between members” (Boundless, 2012). I draw a direct relation to the reading in that the younger members want the feedback and feel it necessary but the older generations do not. This could create friction in the workplace about the direction of the organizational and its goal setting objectives.

In our discussion from class this week, I took note of another classmates comment. Julia Cannell mentioned “goals are not simply a stated desire to achieve an outcome but are a choice of behavior that is impacted by who we are, what we really want, and what we are willing to do to reach them (Cannell, 2015). This is a good observation of how people perceive goals setting and how important it can be.  Long term goal setting paired with feedback in my personal career has paid huge dividends for me because I was able to adjust and move past in deficiencies I had in the learning process. As a general observation, not all the people I worked with liked the feedback. I generally feel they felt that way because the feedback wasn't always positive but it cannot be. Feedback has to be constructive and meaningful otherwise it is pointless.

Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development (Eighth ed.). Prentice Hall

Cannell, J. (2015, April 6). Discussion Forum - Julia Cannell [Personal interview].

Setting Team Goals and Providing Team Feedback - Boundless Open Textbook. (2012, January 1). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/groups-teams-and-teamwork-6/building-successful-teams-53/setting-team-goals-and-providing-team-feedback-266-7085/