This is your score out of 10
I’ve just finished a two day training session with one of my clients, and it was a rip-roaring success.
At least, that’s what the feedback forms told us.
And tempting as it is to believe all those 9s and 10s out of 10 … I’m reluctant to put too much stock by them.
When measuring what I’m doing, I’m most interested in my own metrics:
Was this Good Work? Or was it Great Work?
What did I learn?
Did I step out on the edge? Or did I play it safe?
Of what am I most proud?
The more you’re doing Great Work, the less reliable becomes others’ feedback the more you need to tap into your own self-knowledge of what really matters.
==> What do you think? Is this true? I think it is … but maybe not. Let me know in the Comments section.
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Tags: Great Work, measurement
A strong top-two-box score is common in training evaluations … makes me think about the rater’s comparison group … I could be in this training session, developing myself, perhaps even having fun – or I could be doing my regular job. It’s the negative or neutral ratings that get the real attention.
So I’m wondering a couple of things, one of which is: what your criteria are for Great Work (the link to them, anyway) … are they like the criteria distinguishing Good from Great Companies – a la Jim Collins?
Ooooooh, this is a great train of thought for me. I’m a feedback junkie – I actually keep a “positive feedback” folder at work, and as well as forwarding all of it to my boss, I sometimes just look through it for a feel-good boost. But that job is not my great work. Which is probably why the feel-good boost doesn’t last long
Suzanne
Thanks for your comment. “Great Work” is a subjective measurement, it’s the work that matters to you, stretches you, inspires you, helps you grow. Of course, that exists at an organizational level too – the work that goes beyond the quarter on quarter returns and is the source of innovation, strategic difference, Blue Ocean strategy etc
I have learned that high numbers on feedback forms do not necessairly stretch me into doing “Great Work”. They sometimes make me comfortable with the status quo. It may temporairly feel good knowing my training was entertaining and well received and enjoyed, but it may be the low numbers that indicate I am calling forth participants to step up and do their “Great Work”. That stretching may initally be uncomfortable for them, hence a lower score may show up on the evaluation form.
Recent Physics education research done here at the Uni of Sydney showed that students who saw a presentation of the right answer learnt less, than those who saw a presentation of both the right and the wrong answers. What’s particularly interesting is that the second group, although they’d learnt more, felt less confident and more confused. Their pre-conceptions had been challenged!
Phil – that’s cool … and interesting.
Re: Phil Dooley
That is really interesting. I am involved with a student group at my university and have run a few trainings on things like “personal effectiveness” etc. I have always used feedback forms but recently whenever I challenge people to change something I have a follow up a few days later (completely optional) to hear from people what has changed.
I found that the feedback was always slighlty muted when I discussed times I had failed, compared to when I just talked about success.
But then more people started showing up to the follow up training. I always wondered why more people considered it worth coming back when the feedback was more 6-7 then 8-10. I guess I know now that I was leaving them confused…