Giving Helpful Feedback

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/feedback

Introduction

## Course Review: Giving Helpful Feedback on Coursera ### Overview In today’s fast-paced work environment, effective communication is paramount, especially when it comes to providing feedback. The **Giving Helpful Feedback** course on Coursera promises to equip participants with essential skills to deliver constructive criticism and praise in a way that enhances employee performance and morale. Whether you are an aspiring manager or a seasoned leader, this course offers practical insights drawn from the principles used by expert managers. You'll learn to navigate the challenging terrain of feedback without making employees feel defensive or disheartened. With a focus on both negative and positive feedback, this course prepares you to be a catalyst for change and growth in your workplace. ### Course Syllabus Breakdown #### 1. **Introduction to Giving Helpful Feedback and Positive Feedback** The course kicks off with an exploration of the importance of feedback in the workplace. You’ll learn how mastering feedback can transform careers and foster a culture of motivation and collaboration. The initial week emphasizes the significant impact of positive feedback on creativity and teamwork. Participants can expect to walk away with practical strategies for effectively delivering positive reinforcement. #### 2. **Negative Feedback: Use With Caution** The second week delves into the nuances of negative feedback. It explores why negative criticism can feel punitive and often leads to hesitance in its delivery. This module prepares participants to recognize when negative feedback is necessary and provides techniques to mitigate its potential harmful effects. By understanding the dynamics of negative feedback, learners can improve their confidence in using it strategically. #### 3. **The Seven Essential Feedback Skills - Part I** As the course progresses, participants will engage in developing seven distinct feedback skills tailored for professional interactions. This segment is particularly enriching, as it empowers individuals with a toolkit for delivering feedback effectively — promoting behavioral change while dutifully respecting an employee's dignity. #### 4. **The Seven Essential Feedback Skills - Part II** Continuing from the previous week, learners will refine their mastery of the seven feedback skills. This module encourages participants to practice and integrate these techniques into their daily managerial practices. #### 5. **Giving Helpful Feedback: Turn Your Knowledge Into Long-Term Change** The final segment ties all the lessons together by addressing common pitfalls in feedback delivery. It emphasizes that feedback is a skill that requires ongoing practice and adaptation. Participants will gain insights into diagnosing feedback failures and strategies for long-term improvement and innovation in their feedback methodologies. ### Final Thoughts and Recommendations **Giving Helpful Feedback** is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enhance their management skills. The course is structured logically, making it easy for learners to build upon foundational concepts. Each module is rich with insights that can be applied immediately within a workplace setting. What truly stands out is the course’s commitment to maintaining employee dignity, even when addressing difficult topics. The actionable skills, combined with real-world examples of successful feedback implementation, ensure that participants will complete the course feeling empowered and ready to apply what they’ve learned. I highly recommend this course to managers at all levels, HR professionals, and anyone interested in developing a constructive feedback culture in their organization. With its comprehensive syllabus and focus on practical techniques, **Giving Helpful Feedback** is a step towards becoming a more effective and compassionate leader. Enroll today, and begin transforming your feedback approach!

Syllabus

Introduction to Giving Helpful Feedback and Positive Feedback

The goal of this course is to give you the confidence to deliver both negative and positive feedback successfully and to leave the person receiving feedback with their dignity. To boost your motivation, in the first week we outline specific benefits of mastering feedback skills and provide examples of people whose careers changed because of timely feedback. We also discuss positive feedback and expectations, powerful tools to help people learn at work. You will be able to define both and know how they improve employee performance. You will learn how positive feedback can be delivered in many situations and appreciate the power of positive feedback to enhance employee creativity and teaming skills. We hope that you’ll be able to use this new knowledge immediately.

Negative Feedback is a specialized learning tool. We all know that negative feedback feels punishing. Our goal this week is for you to understand why it is punishing, why we hesitate to use it, and when it can be used effectively without negative consequences. You will be able to identify specific situations where negative feedback is given more weight than positive feedback and learn a technique that can overcome some of negative feedback’s harmful side effects. Armed with a clearer concept of the pluses and minuses of negative feedback, you can be more confident that you are using it appropriately at work.

Based on your work in the first two weeks, you can now describe negative and positive feedback and appreciate the power of these tools to change behavior. In the next two weeks, we take the next step towards building your feedback skills by teaching you seven specific skills to use when delivering professional feedback. At the end these two weeks you will know how to deliver work-related feedback that is effective at changing an employee’s behavior while still preserving their dignity.

This week we continue building on your knowledge of the seven essential feedback skills.

You now know the fundamentals of positive and negative feedback and the skills necessary to deliver both. In this module we begin by describing situations where no matter how talented you are, your feedback will not “get through” to your employee. These situations can be discouraging and we point them out so you can diagnose why your feedback may not have worked. We then describe a process to enable you to continue practicing and improving your new skills. True change takes time, but the journey is worth it.