I'm currently taking a Human Relations class under the Business Management courses this semester and I'm absolutely loving it! Last night's lesson was on communication and conflict management. The professor started the class with a very interesting social experiment on the importance of proper feedback. If you're ever thinking of doing something like this with your colleagues or class, please do so.
The Experiment
You will need four volunteers to exit the room. Get an item of your choice that is not part of the setting, like a candy bar, a figurine, or something out of the ordinary for the environment you are using and hide it in the room. Use the participation of your audience already in the room to help you out.
The Conditions
Condition 1: Positive feedback. Have the audience guide the Seeker in finding the item by applauding every time the seeker gets close to where the item is hidden.
Condition 2: Negative Feedback. Have the audience guide the Seeker in finding the item by booing every time the Seeker is away or farther away from the item that's hidden and stop booing when the seeker is very close to the item.
Condition 3: Positive and Negative Feedback. Have the audience applaud every time the Seeker is super close to the hidden item and boo every time the Seeker moves away from where the item is hidden.
Condition 4: No Feedback. Have the audience distracted by being on their cellphones or reading a book and ignore the Seeker while the seeker is looking for the hidden item.
Our Results
This was the best part:
For the Positive feedback, the Seeker found the hidden granola bar in less than a minute and a half.
For the Negative feedback, the Seeker didn't find the hidden granola bar in two minutes. Instead, every time we booed the Seeker, the Seeker felt discouraged and didn't really move that much to keep looking for the granola bar.
For No feedback whatsoever: The seeker had no guidance or idea where the granola bar was. She walked all over the classroom and was asking for help, but we completely ignored her. She never found the granola bar.
The best result was the Positive and Negative feedback. It was amazing to see that the Seeker found the granola bar in less than a minute when she received both positive and negative feedback from the audience.
What I learned
The moral of the story is this, we need to do a better job in providing both positive and negative feedback to better help our colleagues, employees, teammates, family members and friends. People love to hear what they are doing well and most people enjoy learning about the things that they can improve on.
My goal is to be better at doing this. Doing this simple experiment made me realize how important feedback is when it is done efficiently and sincerely to help others grow and learn more about themselves and their work performance. My communication skills will need to change for the better. I will be more careful with how I communicate with others from now on.
Always remember to provide positive and negative feedback constructively.
Thanks for reading,
Mayra :)
The Experiment
You will need four volunteers to exit the room. Get an item of your choice that is not part of the setting, like a candy bar, a figurine, or something out of the ordinary for the environment you are using and hide it in the room. Use the participation of your audience already in the room to help you out.
The Conditions
Condition 1: Positive feedback. Have the audience guide the Seeker in finding the item by applauding every time the seeker gets close to where the item is hidden.
Condition 2: Negative Feedback. Have the audience guide the Seeker in finding the item by booing every time the Seeker is away or farther away from the item that's hidden and stop booing when the seeker is very close to the item.
Condition 3: Positive and Negative Feedback. Have the audience applaud every time the Seeker is super close to the hidden item and boo every time the Seeker moves away from where the item is hidden.
Condition 4: No Feedback. Have the audience distracted by being on their cellphones or reading a book and ignore the Seeker while the seeker is looking for the hidden item.
Our Results
This was the best part:
For the Positive feedback, the Seeker found the hidden granola bar in less than a minute and a half.
For the Negative feedback, the Seeker didn't find the hidden granola bar in two minutes. Instead, every time we booed the Seeker, the Seeker felt discouraged and didn't really move that much to keep looking for the granola bar.
For No feedback whatsoever: The seeker had no guidance or idea where the granola bar was. She walked all over the classroom and was asking for help, but we completely ignored her. She never found the granola bar.
The best result was the Positive and Negative feedback. It was amazing to see that the Seeker found the granola bar in less than a minute when she received both positive and negative feedback from the audience.
What I learned
The moral of the story is this, we need to do a better job in providing both positive and negative feedback to better help our colleagues, employees, teammates, family members and friends. People love to hear what they are doing well and most people enjoy learning about the things that they can improve on.
My goal is to be better at doing this. Doing this simple experiment made me realize how important feedback is when it is done efficiently and sincerely to help others grow and learn more about themselves and their work performance. My communication skills will need to change for the better. I will be more careful with how I communicate with others from now on.
Always remember to provide positive and negative feedback constructively.
Thanks for reading,
Mayra :)
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