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Yes, we get it. Receiving feedback can feel rather scary at times. Especially in our culture, receiving feedback can feel like it’s only about criticism.
But that’s not true. Feedback is not about receiving criticism (which can feel like insults, sometimes), but it’s receiving both positive and constructive inputs to improve your skills, performance, and job satisfaction. Research shows that effective feedback can positively impact employees’ engagement and retention. According to the 2024 Employee Engagement Trends Report by Quantum Workplace, employees who receive frequent feedback are two times more engaged, three times less likely to look for other jobs, and 1.4 times more likely to stay in the company.
As such, it is important to establish a culture of consistent feedback with your boss and peers, even if it’s not something your company has in place. Feedback helps develop your career in various ways and views challenges and setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve. Feedback culture must be intentional in making giving and receiving feedback an essential part of professional growth.
Here are at least 5 ways feedback culture contributes to your career development.
1. Allows for personal growth
Feedback culture allows you to receive constructive feedback on their work performance, behaviour and skills. This opens your eyes to your strengths and areas for improvement and grows your self-awareness. Through receiving feedback, you’re equipped to identify specific areas where you need to improve yourself and feedback can guide you on where you need to put more effort or focus on. It also helps you find out which skills or areas of work you need to develop or refine.
2. Fosters open communication and collaboration
Consistent feedback, whether through positive reinforcement or constructive criticism, encourages you to understand your role in the organisation and participate in working towards its objectives. When team members are comfortable giving and receiving feedback, it creates a positive atmosphere where people can have trust and mutual respect. This makes it easier for individuals to address issues cohesively and work towards common goals more effectively. Furthermore, it also sets the foundation for more effective relationships, as feedback is viewed to help someone.
3. Promotes accountability
Another benefit of feedback culture is how it encourages individuals to be accountable for their work. When you seek feedback and take active steps to address areas of improvement, it demonstrates your commitment to your development. This then drives you to take ownership for your own professional growth and motivates you to set goals and work towards them.
4. Allows for skills development
This includes skills like communication, problem-solving, decision-making and even leadership – all of which are key transferable skills in today’s job market. Seeking constructive feedback provides guidance on what you need to develop and puts you on the path to learn and improve. You’re then able to recognise issues that need to be addressed and can, therefore, put in place practical steps to rectify them, teaching you problem-solving and decision-making skills. Regular feedback also enables you to adapt to changing circumstances, increasing your ability. All these further improve your work performance by developing skills you lack and improving those you have.
5. Cultivates a growth mindset
A term familiar in the current market climate, growth mindset lets you see how feedback provides opportunities for learning and improvement, instead of criticism. When you’re willing to accept feedback and listen without becoming defensive or dismissive, the information received can be extremely valuable for your career growth. What’s more, feedback also builds resilience as it teaches you to bounce back stronger. This then puts you in a prime position for career advancement.
Building feedback culture in your workplace can be a powerful tool for your career. Even if your company doesn’t have such a culture, it can be something you start within your team by actively asking for feedback from your bosses and peers and continuously working on improving yourself.
With an increasingly competitive job market, making the most of receiving feedback can transform you professionally and position you for better career success.
