Imagine you’re awaiting important feedback. For professionals, this could be a performance appraisal from your boss. For students, it could be written comments and a grade on an important paper.

For many people, this waiting period involves dread, anxiety, stress and other negative emotions. And once the much-anticipated feedback arrives, its reception may be clouded in emotions that result in a disengagement with the feedback process: shock, rejection or confusion. It’s an emotional blow that can really affect the feedback recipient’s well-being and sense of self.

Although feedback can sometimes feel painful, it might be the best gift to help our learning and growth.

Receiving feedback helps us to gain an accurate awareness of our actual performance in relation to the expected or needed outcome — whether that’s on the job or in school.

Feedback helps us understand how to close that gap between where we are versus where we need to be and improve our skills. Without the guidance that comes from feedback, we’re fumbling in the dark.

Feedback literacy

With proper feedback, we can clearly see our strengths and our opportunities for learning. Yet feedback literacy — the process of engaging with feedback and using it to improve — is a skill that is rarely taught in school.

Feedback literacy typically involves four phases:

  1. Accepting feedback: Having an open mind and recognizing that feedback is valuable and we can grow from it.

  2. Reflecting upon feedback: Considering how the feedback shows gaps in performance and can act as guidance to bring us closer to the desired outcome.

  3. Engaging with the feedback: Making sense of the feedback, including asking clarifying questions. It’s at this phase that emotional reactions can derail the feedback literacy process.

  4. Applying feedback: Using feedback to make changes to subsequent performance.

Benefits for lower stress

As university educators who teach students in communications, dentistry and undergraduate medical sciences, our previous research on feedback literacy showed that students who have higher levels of feedback literacy also have higher levels of mindfulness and lower levels of overall stress.

From this, we wanted to look at whether students would benefit from learning more feedback literacy skills — and at the same time, have their well-being and emotions supported through mindfulness.

We developed a program to teach students how to become more literate with feedback, while managing their stress responses to that feedback.

Teaching feedback literacy

To support managing feedback-induced stress, we thought that perhaps mindfulness, or focusing on the present moment without judgment, would help minimize the negative emotions around receiving feedback. Without being distracted by the emotion, students could focus on the feedback and improve their learning.

Working with a multidisciplinary team, we designed a “co-curricular course” — an online module that could be completed by students in different disciplines to support core curriculum. This entails six 30-minute lessons that apply mindfulness to feedback literacy, made available through Western University’s online learning management system.

We then met with students who went through the lessons to ask them about their experiences. While we had hoped to hear that they were able to see past the negative emotions when receiving feedback, and develop an appreciation for it, we found some unexpected results.

Students reframing their outlook on feedback

Beyond students no longer focusing on the negative emotions around feedback, they went as far to report that skills from the course helped them reframe their views on the whole feedback process.

Instead of feedback being a painful and nerve-racking experience, students reported that they began to welcome and seek out feedback. One student reported looking forward to receiving it and asking her supervisor at a clinical placement to give her as much feedback as possible.

Another student who had previously avoided speaking to professors out of fear of being seen as a “problem student” began to ask for clarification to decode assignment feedback. Students reported they began to eagerly ask questions to deepen their understanding of the feedback they received and consequently improve their learning.

Another focus group participant, a dental student, reported using the mindfulness techniques to help her stay calm while performing a dental procedure on a patient, recognizing that she needed to stay focused to avoid upsetting the patient and to complete the tooth procedure.

How students used mindfulness

A further surprise was that students reported applying the mindfulness techniques to minimize stress and increase their well-being in scenarios such as:

  • Navigating transitions (from post-secondary school to their first professional job)

  • Using mindful eating practices to notice what foods they’re consuming

  • Slowing down to enjoy a morning cup of tea

  • Realizing that post-secondary years are the “best years” and the need to enjoy the time

  • Managing emotions such as anxiety when returning to their hometown

  • Using mindfulness to notice their physical surroundings (houses and stores on their street)

Overall, focus group participants reported increased well-being due to stronger coping mechanisms for stress in academic work and in other life aspects.

This research contributes to understanding short- and potentially longer-term benefits of learning about feedback literacy or mindfulness as a complementary part of academic study or professional training.

Feedback literacy tips

Whether you’re walking into a performance appraisal, or your child is anticipating a grade return, here are some things to remember:

Feedback is not a personal attack. It’s a gift to help improve your performance.

Accept each feedback moment as an opportunity for personal growth.

If feedback is disappointing, try to put the emotions aside to see where there is actionable guidance.

Seek feedback whenever possible. The more you ask for — and receive — feedback in everyday situations, the easier it is to welcome it.

Take time to celebrate the wins. Reflect on what worked for you and how you can build on that momentum.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Erin Isings, Western University; Cecilia S. Dong, Western University, and Christine E. Bell, Western University

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Erin Isings receives funding from SSHRC.

Cecilia S. Dong receives funding from SSHRC.

Christine Bell receives funding from SSHRC.