Giving Compass' Take:

• After interning at Feedback Labs, Ying He shares the importance of feedback in running any sort of institution, organization, or business. Feedback provides leaders with information regarding success, employee condition and much more. 

• How can feedback improve the school system or build a better business environment? Nonprofit professionals in any sector would benefit from seeking out more voices to hear what's working and what's not.

• Read about the effects of feedback in school.

Looking back to my first day of work as an intern at Feedback Labs, I didn’t really understand the meaning of the word “feedback.” In my mind, feedback was a one-way arrow. The process was: “A gives feedback to B,” end of story. That had been my shallow understanding of feedback for years, and I never even knew I could go deeper.

But, my experience at Feedback Labs introduced me to what feedback can be and how powerful it is. Feedback is no longer a plain word for me. I believe in its power to change people’s lives.

Feedback is about real action and changes. While pulling together an introduction to feedback concepts, I had the chance to read dozens of articles produced by the feedback community. The first article I read was by Dennis Whittle, Feedback Labs CEO, about his early experiences at the World Bank Group. He wrote: “over time, I have grown to believe that regular people should have the most say in selecting which aid initiatives are chosen to help them.”

At our office, we fill out weekly Office Vibe surveys about how satisfied we feel at work and analyze the data collected during our weekly meeting. After analyzing, we actually brainstorm ways to improve our working environment and put feedback into action. As a beginner in the feedback community, I feel the team’s passion for feedback and appreciate the efforts they make to live up to high feedback standards. I can’t really describe my surprise at first at witnessing this passion and effort, but I can definitely say that interning at Feedback Labs has been a pivotal moment in my college experience and will empower me to speak up more and act more in the future.

Read the full article about the benefits of feedback by Ying He at Feedback Labs.