The power of Feedback

I have been writing the blog for some time now and am happy that more number of people have started reading it. yet feedback on what the readers think is important for the writer to go on.This is true of all activites we do in life. A writer needs readers; a muscician listeners as also feedback from the recipients.Children need support & feedback as to how they are doing.It is that encouragement that eggs us all  to do well. 

Sometimes,I have had readers writing to me by personal Email.If they were to write the comments in the blog itself, it may encourage more people to read the article. As for example, my post on "Contributing to  service excellence"  had no comments on the blog. 

However I received a mail from Mr Thanigaivelan Dakshinamurthy, GM(HR) Gamesa Wind Turbines Ltd who wrote: "I read your article on " Service Excellence" and find it quite interesting. I agree with your concept and also feel that it is necessary "to keep their self esteem levels very high in order to work effectively in this role."  After going through other articles, I believe that there is plenty to know from you.Thanks for the inputs.We will stay in touch & Take care of yourself." No doubt, these kind words enthused me. But putting it on public domain enables more people reading the post which I feel is important in the sense, our experience with the program for the service providers of admin & HR group was that it was  very well received and there has been suggestions that this be extended to the finance employees. The focus of the whole program was not merely giving sermons to the service providers but real time feedback from those receiving their service, appreciating their own difficulties in a  handling a stress ridden "thankless job' as perceived by some of them. We discussed as to how NLP techniques can be used to build better rapport not only with one's customers but also with peers of other   departments whose support is crucial. EFT (Emotional Freedom technique) for handling stress and building trust by self disclosure & seeking feedback(Johari concept) . comments & discussion about  this post  in the blog itself, could have created more interest in HRDians, encouraging them  to attempt similar programs in their companies.  Similarly when I wrote the participant's account on Sothern Regional conference of NIPM, giving a gist of the learning from the entire conference, the chairman send me a personal SMS stating "your narration & thrust given by speakers in each session is great and commendable.It demonstrates that you were not only attentative but also absorbed the contents in great detail.kindly accept my appreciation for the wonderful manner you have brought out the theme spirit.I cherished it.Compliments to your in depth knowledge & involvement .Grateful thanks " Such powerful, graceful words from the chairman , would enthuse many more people to read & benefit from a successfully organized professional  conference. Ofcourse, it motivates me as the writer to write more!  The other day, while in indiblogger I was reading the comments of a blogger whose writing I had great respect for, lamenting that at times she feels discouraged in the absence of feedback/ appreciation  from readers and has contemplated quitting the writing process itself. Thomas Hardy the renouned novelist whose book "Far from the madding crowd"  was prescribed for us English  literature students in school, gave up writing novels all together because a critic of the said times was very harsh on his novels- very sad considering the quality of the few novels that he did write. But to my mind, worse than being criticised,is being ignored. If there is no response you have no idea as to the impact of your effort. Often times we watch a movie, see a painting  or read something, like it very much but do not express our opinion about it .How nice it would be if we told people more often of what we liked, what brought us happiness and sometimes what hurt us  as well ( though Appreciative Inquiry advises us to focus on the good things & what is good & working). In fact it is the absence of communication, that is the bane of the modern times.   In conclusion i would like to reiterate that the power of feedback is immense. Discussions & feedback, even when we do not agree with everything discussed in an article,  still plays an important function, that  of the subject being examined from different angles, providing clarity and benefiting professionals in the long run.