Latest / Mark and Pete / How to Take Feedback

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How to Take Feedback · Mark and Pete

• 0:05
  How to take feedback. Welcome to Mark and Pete, and
• 0:09
  this episode we're looking at how to take feedback for things
• 0:13
  I don't know, like podcast episodes.
• 0:15
  The Internet has made feedback instant and constant and
• 0:20
  occasionally unhinged. Yes, this is Mark and Pete 2
• 0:23
  blokes with half an opinion. Now here's our first thought.
• 0:29
  If inquisitive feedback provides food for thought, then take time
• 0:35
  to chew on every question, though you might feel
• 0:38
  overwrought as you suck on each. Suggestion Well.
• 0:44
  Yes, there's a lot of food for thought for that.
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  Now, of course, when it comes to getting feedback, we all react
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  in different ways. Some react very positively, some
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  negatively. Well, we'll explore this and
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  indeed, we're going to talk about the Mark and Pete.
• 0:59
  Feedback only comes to some of our episodes.
• 1:02
  Mr. Pete, I know that feedback comes in personal life, business
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  life, etcetera, but what say you about having a critique of
• 1:10
  yourself? Well, I have to say one of the
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  things, although you're meant to be open to, one of the things I
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  like least is people giving a critique of what I've just done,
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  especially if I've just done something it's, it's a bit like
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  an actor coming off the stage, what the actor wants to hear as,
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  oh, your performance was lovely, darling, not well, you forgot
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  your lines in the second act and you were a bit dry and I
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  couldn't hear you. You don't, they don't want that
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  sort of thing. So it's it's difficult to say.
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  However, it is of course incredibly useful.
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  But it's the timing, I guess, of when it's done, who gives the
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  feedback. For example, the same actor may
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  well have responded differently to the director saying such
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  things the next day and the cold light of day.
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  So yeah, feedback is a good thing.
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  It is very useful, but the way it's done and the way that you
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  receive it can have a huge effect on how you respond to it.
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  It's very difficult, isn't it, especially in the creative
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  world, to accept feedback shortly after you've done
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  something because the thing you've produced is like your
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  your child. You know who wants that?
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  Who wants to be told Mark that their child is ugly?
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  Well, indeed, while I'm sure that we've all faced that
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  critique at some point in our lives, now, what's interesting
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  is, as you quite rightly say, you know, when it comes to a
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  creative performance, you write those sort of great applause and
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  cheers rather than the booze and people's stamping away into the
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  exit. But the fact is, is that in
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  business it's quite common to have feedback.
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  It's what's called like a 360. You get a full analysis of all
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  of your skills, traits, your qualifications, your ability to
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  manage, your ability to interact, etcetera.
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  Now what's interesting is the London School of Economics
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  classifieds feedback into four key areas.
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  Now the first one is positive conditional.
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  That's positive feedback based on something that the individual
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  has done. The positive unconditional is
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  positive feedback for no reason. There's negative conditional
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  change feedback based on something that the individual
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  has done, but there's also negative unconditional on there
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  change feedback with no reason in the workplace, for example,
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  where you should only give conditional feedback because you
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  never use unconditional feedback when it comes to business.
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  Now the fact of the matter is, is that sometimes this can
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  expose some weaknesses. So when somebody is placed in a
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  situation of critique, you really often tend to sort of
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  rather instinctively focus on the negative.
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  But really what I think is important when particularly in
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  business is make sure you balance it with a positive.
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  Because remember, the whole point behind this, it should be
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  with the aim of being constructive.
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  And that's the constructive feedback, which I think is
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  really helping the individual. You can actually literally
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  undermine somebody's confidence, whoever they are, whether
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  they're ACEO or whether they're just somebody who's a graduate
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  who's just starting their job. It's very easy to do, but what
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  you ultimately wanted to do is make sure that they contribute
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  to the business and that they can actually improve.
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  Now, Mr. Pete, I want to ask you, when it comes to feedback
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  in society, often people wonder why on earth that they should
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  even be given feedback. In a corporate environment they
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  sort of expect it, but in society it's maybe not something
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  that everybody welcomes, no. That's true.
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  And in society, you're not looking necessarily for
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  feedback. You haven't got the structure
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  that you would have in place in a good business so that you're
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  you're not expecting it and it may be given in unhelpful ways.
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  When it comes to social media, you often get feedback on things
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  that you say and it can be very, very negative.
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  If you want to move it on to not just society, but on producing a
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  podcast, like a podcast episodes like why do we do get feedback,
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  ladies and gentlemen? And some of it's some of it's
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  very positive, which we won't bore you with some of the
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  things, some of it is negative as questioning the content that
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  we put out. Now here you don't have the
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  structure, but that you were talking about in business.
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  Well, but you do have that as as long as you're aware of this is
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  very helpful. You're one step removed because
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  they're just they're comments. You can walk away from them or
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  ignore them or even delete them. And of course, an extreme
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  comment would be say, reporting you to YouTube, maybe for
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  copyright strike or something like that.
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  We're not talking about that. That hasn't happened to us, but
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  we'll just give an example, Mark that maybe that will help to
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  see. Now we put out a a recent
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  podcast. The episode was called Why is
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  Britain the wettest ever? You guys have a look at it now
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  if you were on the YouTube version of it, I think most
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  people listen on Spotify or or on Apple Podcasts, but there is
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  a YouTube version of some of the episodes and this one had one.
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  And there were a few comments about part of this show, which
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  we're talking about the possibility that the weather was
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  being seeded through what are sometimes called chemtrails.
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  You know, the trails coming out of the back of aircraft people.
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  There's one commenter noted positively.
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  Yes, chemtrails, we watch them regularly, even cross, cross
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  crossing above copious clouds, You know, supporting what we'd
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  said. Someone else supporting what we
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  said, yes, has been weather modification patents since the
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  1800s. And then there was a back and
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  forth with other people on it, which is great for the algorithm
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  getting people to listen. Well, one person said, it's not
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  rain. Sorry, I should have said just a
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  warning. I'm going to swear, but it is a
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  quote. It's without saying who it was.
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  You can always go and look at the YouTube video.
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  He comments on what we'd said and says it's not rain.
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  It's bullshit. Now what he's saying is that
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  what you're, you know, you're I, I think what he's trying to get
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  across in that pithy manner that he had this chap was that it's
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  not rain. It's, it's a bullshit.
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  Obviously it's not, you know, it's not what you're talking
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  about. You're talking complete
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  nonsense. That's one way of taking it.
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  Now you'll be interested to know, Mr. Mark, I don't know if
• 7:34
  you've seen this, but I did reply to this helpfulness.
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  He said it's not rain, it's bullshit.
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  And I said that is an unpleasant image.
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  So I, I took the, the criticism as being about just about the
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  rain and not about our comments on it.
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  Whether was wrong, I don't know, but I, I think so that's the
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  sort of comments that we get now in this sort of case, I think it
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  is important that we take on board or anyone putting, putting
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  something them out themselves out in public, take note of what
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  the public are saying. So obviously it's a
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  controversial matter talking about chemtrails, weather
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  seeding. So we could factor that into our
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  future comments on it. It's it's to ignore it would be
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  ridiculous and also to have been rude and say how dare you swear
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  at me to this chap would have been would also been have been
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  counterproductive. You want to take it on board,
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  but in a methodical manner. Don't don't take it emotionally.
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  These in this in most cases, it's not your these aren't your
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  friends. You don't really care in an
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  emotional way, or you shouldn't, what they think of you and he's
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  being able to take that step back emotionally.
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  That enables you to take on what could be a helpful content to
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  the comment. Well, he's also saying when it
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  comes to to feedback, I mean the public generally know what they
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  like and they know what they want to see or hear.
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  And I think that that's absolutely to your point that
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  that is crucial. You know, everybody has
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  different opinions, everybody has different areas of interest,
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  etcetera, and the topics that they want to hear.
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  But I, I do agree, I think that it's a, it's the way you react
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  to the feedback. But I, I think that this is
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  something that, you know, all podcasters think about it, which
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  is how do they engage with the listeners?
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  You know, how do they interact? And really the way I see it is,
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  is that essentially they're an extension of the team.
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  They're really, they're part of the, the, the actual content.
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  Because whilst they, they can listen to, obviously the
• 9:37
  dialogue that we give, what they do is that they extend that
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  dialogue, they give their views. And that's what we want to hear.
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  It's, it's the ability to be able to interact.
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  Maybe we might give some feedback of our own, which is
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  part and parcel of the, of the game here.
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  We're in a in a world where people like to interact.
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  Now, I know that one of the challenges behind social media
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  and any kind of podcasting is the identity.
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  Some people like to hide behind the identity and maybe that they
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  sort of sometimes, as we've seen with celebrities, that they can
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  be sometimes targeted unnecessarily, but that
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  generally most people, you know, are constructive.
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  They want to give good feedback. But I mean, Mr. Pete, as we sort
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  of close out this episode, what sort of things would you advise
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  for our podcasters to to think about in terms of their next
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  posting? Well, I think that constructive
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  criticism is good, but also comment on the actual content of
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  what we're saying. Give their own view, especially
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  if it's different to ours, because then you're you're
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  adding to the knowledge base of those listening you're doing.
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  That's the most constructive thing that we can hear something
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  we've missed out on something that we've misunderstood.
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  There's a verse in the Bible, Proverbs 27, verse 6.
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  Faithful are the wounds of a friend.
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  So, you know, even strong criticism or saying that, as our
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  friend did earlier, that's bullshit, that that even that
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  can be very helpful. But flattery hardly enough is
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  far more dangerous because we'll if we get that, we'll just end
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  up saying the same old BS.