Feedback Etiquette: Empowering Creatives to Remarkable Results.

Provoke by Asking Questions.

Properly phrased, questions are an excellent means of guiding a Creative into ownership.

Rather the explicitly identifying issues or prescribing solutions, we can use questions to engage a Creative in the problem spotting and solving process. Through conversation, we can bring them into the place of self-identifying the issues or solutions we are already seeing.

We might start a feedback session by asking something open ended like ‘What more would we want to do with this?’. Perhaps they’ve already identified the issue and we can celebrate their forethought. If not, we can nudge them with a leading question such as ‘Hmm... how do we see the player managing this?’. Keep things tactful and both parties will work together to make the Creative’s latest the best it can be.

Provoke by Begging the Question. 

The goal here is to get a Creative to engage in the feedback process, offering their own thoughts and assessments of the product.

If questions are not working, sometimes silence can elicit a response. For example, I might start a sentence and then trail off as if mid thought. Something like ‘oh, that over here, it’s making me think...’. Often this is enough to engage a Creative. Perhaps they ask a clarifying question or attempt to finish the sentence. In either case you now have the conversation ball rolling and can kick it back and forth.

Provoke by Not Having Answers. 

A Creative is a lot like a Player in that they both typically take the path of least resistance. If we condition a Creative to expect us to always provide an answer, they are less likely to try to identify issues before bringing it for feedback. Similarly, if we always have a critique, they may choose to leave a few rough edges for us to call out rather than taking something to completion.

Both cases can cut the Creative out of the conversation, decreasing their personal stake in seeing the situations addressed.

If we have a solution in mind, often the best results come from inviting the Creative into our thought process. By doing this they can arrive at the desired conclusion on their own. Often this extra effort of bringing the Creative into our perspective results in them discovering a more effective solution then the one we initially had in mind.

Choose Our Words. 

Our word choices can set the tone for the entire feedback process. For example, sending invites to for an ‘Art Critique’ meeting can set recipients on the defensive. Encouraging Creatives to come prepared to passionately defend their choices. Intentionally using more neutral terms, such as ‘Design Sync’ can lessen this affect.

Selectively using pronouns like ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ can allow us to focus praise and dissipate negatives. As a general guideline if it’s something good, use ‘you’, such as ‘you did a great job here’. If it’s an opportunity to improve use ‘we’, as in ‘we could explore this’. If you need an antagonist use ‘they’. Overall, our choices should express to a Creative that they are supported and valued.

Finally, as any decent marriage counselor will tell you, avoid broad terms such as ‘always’ and ‘never’. Even if such terms feel accurate, they rarely improve a situation. Often shutting off one side of the conversation, rather than fostering understanding.

Choose our Communication Cues. 

In my case, I discovered communication cues during my first stint as a Level Design Lead. The project was in a tight spot, and I soon realized there was a large vein above my right eyebrow that would visibly pulse anytime someone would even think of increasing scope.

While it became a running gag that ‘The Vein’ turned the project around, this not-so-subtle communication cue limited my ability to communicate feedback in a useful manner, betraying my otherwise calm demeanor.

Other cues can include eye rolls, head shakes, frowns, distracted glances and so on. Becoming aware of our tendencies can allow us to stop them before they communicate more than we want in a particular moment.

As mastering these communication cues can take time, it might be useful to find ways to limit their impact. For example, choosing a seat that looks away from high traffic areas, or in the case of an attention seeking vein like my own, try wearing a hat.

Choose our Emotional State.

Emotions can inspire us to make choices in a moment that will impact a lifetime... getting married, making a baby, or raising our voice at an intern.

If for example, we just came out of a particularly tense meeting with corporate, now is not the time to roll up on a Creative to review their latest efforts.

Feedback is so valuable that it is worth delaying to ensure we’re in the proper frame of mind to give it effectively.

If it absolutely can’t wait, we need to be aware of our current emotional state. This will help us to not inadvertently transfer these emotions into the next situation, negatively impacting the feedback process.