Nothing like a group of pecking hens to represent eliciting feedback!

If you’ve been with me long enough, you’ve definitely heard me say,

The best clinicians get the most amount of negative feedback. . .

…because they are asking for it!

When I first learned about eliciting feedback and all the research around it, it made a lasting impression on the way I formulated treatment. Finally, I could do my own session-by-session qualitative research on what was actually helping my clients. I could cut out a lot of the guesswork. I changed my practice and approach immediately. You can read this post from last year to get a good write-up on it and see an article with research explaining the value and the best process for it.

Bottom line: eliciting feedback is necessary if you want to do effective work as a social worker, professional counselor or marriage and family therapist.

This 3 minute video does a great overview.

Please go over these questions and come ready to discuss:

• How am I currently eliciting feedback?

• What feedback do I most pay attention to?

• Which feedback do I not want to hear?

• What do I do with the feedback I am given?

And in settings in which you’ve been a recipient of services, or the person in the relationship with less power (think: doctor’s office, a professor in grad school, your administrator at work, as a therapy client):

• What did the other person do to either elicit or not elicit feedback?

• What made it easier or harder to share what you really felt and thought about them, about the experience of working with them?

• What helps you feel comfortable giving people honest feedback?

Lastly, here is a handout, created by my dear mentor Susie Snyder, LCSW. It is pure gold, and i have referred to it so often in developing my own skills to elicit feedback. Feel free to download, print and keep it somewhere easily accessible. Eliciting feedback is a muscle, just like any other skill. Time, intention and practice make it strong.