Creating a Culture of Feedback

Session Time: 1:00 pm — 2:00 pm

Speaker: Laura Dowling Grealish, Senior Consultant & Executive Coach, PeopleFirm

Session Description: "Can I give you some feedback?" Why does this question always seem to make our blood pressure rise and defenses go up? The truth is: We've got feedback wrong. Not only have we got it wrong, but as humans, we're paying a significant price for our feedback missteps and misuse. The call for a feedback fix is loud and strong. If we work together to fix feedback, we can collectively capture those meaningful connections that will improve our relationships, our work and ourselves. To build a healthy culture of feedback, know that trust is vital for feedback to work. Feedback doesn't work in a culture of fear or low trust. No trust equals no connection, and little to no value is captured from the feedback exchange no matter how well-intentioned. Our first feedback fix is about fighting the natural fear response many of us experience during feedback conversations and creating an environment of psychological safety where feedback can thrive. This means improving our ability to operate under fairness, no matter what role we're playing in the exchange. It also means tapping into some other fabulous F words like frequency and focus, the foundations of creating a feedback culture. We all have different feedback narratives. If we're truly going to shift the culture of feedback, we need to look at where we came from and unpack our own feedback narrative so we can start fresh.

• Core Competency #1: Communication, Leadership & Navigation, Relationship Management

Speaker Bio:
Laura Dowling Grealish is a manager and executive coach with EY and has spent the past two decades studying and applying the disciplines and science that help clients create thriving environments, high-performing teams, modern performance management techniques, improved organizational effectiveness, and customized learning and development programs. Her career experiences have allowed her to embrace a “craftsman mindset” as she gathers insights across industries and people disciplines. Laura’s career path included stops at organizations like GE Capital, Genworth Financial, the Cleveland Clinic, and Russell Investments. Laura has a bachelor of arts degree in business management from the University of Montana and an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University. She and her husband, Jeff, live in the Pacific Northwest and enjoy having their two adult children, Evann and Logan, nearby, along with a growing tribe of little grand people.