Issue 3 October 28th 2022

Feedback Insights

Eight Valuable Pieces Of Feedback These Entrepreneurs Learned From Exit Interviews

"While waiting until an employee leaves the company may not be the ideal way to receive feedback about your business, exit interviews can provide a wealth of vital knowledge that can help business leaders make changes to their company processes and policies for the better. Employees are often more honest and open when leaving their positions, and their feedback can shed light on issues leaders may not have even known existed."

Pain Brings Out Our Mean Streak

One lesson: giving and receiving feedback is often thought of as a purely mental process, but the mind and body are not as separate as we often think. This study shows one connection between the physical body and how we perceive and respond to feedback (and those who give it).

"Whether the source is an abscessed tooth or a chemical irritant on our skin, physical pain can cause us to lash out at the people around us in response to perceived provocations that our normal nonsuffering selves would take in stride as part of the give-and-take of ordinary social interaction."

Overconfidence and its link with feedback

One lesson: it can be challenging to receive performance feedback, but this study suggests that those who were initially overconfident in their abilities may become even more confident once they receive feedback.

"The aim of this study was to evaluate the persistence or otherwise of overconfidence and the role that feedback might have played in changing students’ perceptions of their own skills, abilities and performance. The results established that although students received feedback and had an opportunity to re-calibrate their estimations of their own performance, the number of overconfident students did not significantly fall between the time of the mid-term examination and the final examination. More importantly, the degree of their overconfidence increased by the time of the final examination. That is, the gap between their own estimations of their own performance and their actual performance widened between the time that they had received feedback on their performance after their mid-term examination and the time that they took the final examination."