How do you develop your team using reflection and feedback?

1 Setting expectations

Before you start using reflection and feedback with your team, you need to set clear and realistic expectations. This means explaining the purpose and benefits of reflection and feedback, defining the roles and responsibilities of each team member, and establishing the ground rules and norms for giving and receiving feedback. You also need to align the reflection and feedback activities with the team's objectives, milestones, and indicators of success. By setting expectations, you can ensure that your team understands the value and expectations of reflection and feedback, and is motivated and prepared to participate.

2 Creating a feedback culture

To develop your team using reflection and feedback, you need to create a feedback culture that supports and encourages honest, constructive, and respectful feedback. A feedback culture is one where feedback is seen as a gift, not a threat, and where team members feel safe and comfortable to share their opinions, experiences, and suggestions. To create a feedback culture, you need to model the feedback behavior you want to see in your team, such as asking for and giving feedback regularly, acknowledging and appreciating feedback, and acting on feedback. You also need to provide your team with the skills and tools to give and receive feedback effectively, such as using the SBI model (Situation, Behavior, Impact) or the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

3 Facilitating reflection sessions

One of the main ways to use reflection and feedback to develop your team is to facilitate regular reflection sessions. Reflection sessions are meetings where your team reviews their progress, achievements, challenges, and learnings, and identifies areas for improvement and action. Reflection sessions can be done at different intervals, such as after a project, a sprint, a milestone, or a quarter. To facilitate reflection sessions, you need to plan ahead, choose a suitable format and method, such as a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or a retrospective (What went well, what didn't go well, what can we do better), and create a safe and engaging space for your team to share their reflections and feedback. You also need to guide the discussion, ask open-ended questions, summarize the key points, and document the outcomes.

4 Following up on action plans

The final step to develop your team using reflection and feedback is to follow up on the action plans that emerge from the reflection sessions. Action plans are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that your team sets to address the areas of improvement and opportunity that they identified. To follow up on action plans, you need to assign roles and responsibilities, monitor the progress and performance of your team, provide ongoing support and feedback, and celebrate the achievements and learnings of your team. By following up on action plans, you can ensure that your team is implementing the changes and improvements that they agreed on, and that they are seeing the results and benefits of reflection and feedback.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?