Providing Negative Feedback
Recently, we've received a good bit of negative feedback about different components of the site. The goal of giving negative feedback is to have your opinion heard and understood.Moving forward, I want us to follow the below steps when giving negative feedback:
1.Post it to the suggestion/feedback boxthat you can findhere. We are in the process of updating the form so that it has the fields spelled out below in #2.
2.Be sure to include solutions along with the feedback you are providing. Ask yourself, 'Okay, if I were to solve this problem, what would I do?" Try to sketch it out in as much detail as you can. Use the following headings:
-Problem - please state clearly
-Solution - usually the opposite of the problem
-Hypothesis 1 - a concrete way we can implement a solution to try to address the problem.
-Hypothesis2 - a second concrete way we can implement a solution to address the problem.
This is how it would look for quality:
Problem: Some listeners do a poor job of listening as evidenced by leaving chats, taking too long to respond, or not being empathetic.
Solution: Help these listeners do a better job by fully engaging in chats, responding quickly, and being empathic.
Hypothesis 1 - mandatory practice chat box that addresses these issues.
Hypothesis 2 - listener tips that address these issues.
How will we know if the above is working? We should see an increase in 4 and 5 star ratings, positive reviews, and increased positive conversations.
3.We will review the submissionsand prioritize the issues that we can address. We'll then open up a new discussion in the forum focused on solving the problem.This willnotbe a forum thread to complain. It'll be focused on making progress on solving the problem.
We are a community. We will always have problems that we need to address. Believe it or not, this is actually a sign of growth and vitality. However, that said, how we address problems becomes critical to our collective wellbeing as a community. Moving forward, please follow the above steps to provide us with negative feedback. Please do not post itin the forums or in the chat room. Emotion can be contagious and it can lead to inaccurate perceptions. From recent discussions, one could conclude that many of our listeners are doing a poor job. Objective survey data clearly shows that this is off by an order of magnitude (75% of members view listeners as empathic or mostly empathic for example). We are doing very important work here, so we need to make sure that our community works in a manner that creates health, wellbeing, and insight. The above flow will help get us there (Special thanksto all who contributed to this discussion and Flourish for a creative solution!).
I think this is going to be a great way to get to know the problems that we have and within the problem there would be a solution too. Thank you Glen for this idea. This is how we can build more support here at 7cot. :)
Sounds good! As the creator of the site, you need to know how to fix things, and you're not a mind reader! User-implemented plans are surely a good way to get at least somewhat realistic plans going. Thank you, Glen!
Great Idea!But I think that it's difficult sometimes to find a specific solution to each problem. Besides that, I thought that responsible for that was the Community Members. It would be difficult for a simple listener to propose solutions to every possible problem concerning the construction or the function of the site. To do so, professional knowledge is undoubtedly required.
Therefore, I truly believe that listeners should only state the problems, however problem solving is a job for the Members of the Community.
Sincerely,DeadlyAlone
This is a really great way to allow listeners to give constructive feedback! I love it :)
I saw this article and I thought it would be on providing feedback to listeners. This may be out of place but is there a thread or could there be a thread on providing constructive criticism to listeners we mock chat with or talk to? Usually I do the criticism sandwich (one positive, one negative, another positive)
While I appreciate the opportunity to provide "negative feedback" the fact that it's behind closed doors is disturbing because it feels to me like dissent or alternate views are being squashed and this can lead to groupthink which can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences. The more I think about it, the more I believe that groupthink is going on here to a large extent and I encourage everyone to read this nice article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink
I have this concern as well. We will no longer know who shares our thoughts, refine our critiques with the input of other listeners,and it also takes away a chance to clear up any misunderstandings regarding feedback via conversation that could take place in the forum.
I'd rather see the feedback stay in the Listeners' Only forum, but organized in one or twosections.
Also, I'm not sure what construes "negative" feedback ? is all feedback "negative"? If it includes any element of critique? Is the "Problem Solving" section in the Listeners' Only forum still OK? How about "Website feedback"? "Ideas and Suggestions"?
This seems like a very suitable solution. I hope it has helped! Improving the site based on thoughtful criticism is absolutely imperative. Encouraging those who are providing feedback to at least try and think of solutions will hopefully keep the criticism constructive. Also, providing an official and anonymous place will hopefully encourage even more helpful feedback and ensure that the feedback is heard. Sometimes forum posts aren?t seen for a while or forgotten. Plus hopefully this will ensure that an inaccurate perception of the site isn?t out there via the web. Unfortunately, a few negative posts can incorrectly reflect the impact of the site and damage the reputation of the site. Perception is reality.
