Importance of different perspectives and effective feedback
Sub-Topic 3
Skills
Below are the skills in this Sub-Topic:
- I am able to listen carefully and take time to understand and ask relevant questions, especially when I don’t understand.
- I am able to respect diverse views and recognise the importance of ambiguity.
Advanced Skills
These skills are designed to assist with career, role and personal development. These should be considered once you are confident in the relevant skills above.
- I will support a team culture based on trust and openness and call out poor behaviour.
- I will check my motives for providing feedback and understand why I want to provide it.
Overview
Teams are made up of diverse personalities and colleagues will often have different perspectives on the same issue. This is often based on the level of information a person may have as well as the importance placed on the information. This is the same for service users/patients. Dependent upon the information they are provided, their past experiences and what they have heard will influence their views/perspective.
Understanding different perspectives can often be effective when you ask questions and actively listen. However, you should feel safe and trusted to challenge, in a constructive way, poor communication, poor behaviour or times when you do not feel listened to.
Providing effective feedback can be a powerful tool for individuals. When done in the right way, with the right intentions, feedback can lead to improvements in performance and quality of service. However, feedback which is personalised, aggressive or not received with the spirit within which it is given can lead to distrust/dissatisfaction.
Why is this importantWhy is this important
Team members may often become disillusioned or remote when they do not feel their views are important or listened to. Staff are not always confident to voice their concerns in front of those who they perceive to be in a higher authority or position to themselves.
Support roles are often the first contact a service user may have with a service. They will sometimes have a deeper understanding of the service user, their family circumstances and the community/environment within which they are living/working. Listening to all staff’s views and opinions is therefore, vital to effective service user care and support.
At times it may be better to wait to provide feedback, or question/challenge opinions, especially if a situation is highly emotional or people are not able to, or ready to listen.
Skills ReviewSkills Review
Having completed this sub-topic I will understand the importance of these skills.
- I am able to listen carefully and take time to understand and ask relevant questions, especially when I don’t understand.
- I am able to respect diverse views and recognise the importance of ambiguity.