Feed, fodder or feedback — it’s the Monday morning “quarterbacking” of what your impressions, comments and responses are about an event, project or idea.

Within our culture, the idiom, “Feeding frenzy” is an aggressive attack on someone by a group.   We say,  ‘You can’t help but wonder whether you were going to be talkback fodder the next day”, even though fodder is generally used to describe coarse animal food.  (http://www.wordhippo.com).  Perhaps the use of feed and fodder in our language helps to shed some light on why it is difficult for many of us to provide feedback.

It’s easy to complete a company’s short survey about their product, or fill-out a short evaluation form, following a business presentation.  We are helpful and want to show someone else the time they gave us was not wasted.  Yet, it is a learned art to express feedback to someone.

Why not start with Yourself?   How do you want someone to give you feedback?  What do you want someone to tell you in an evaluation?  How is your work presently evaluated?  Do you like to know what you do best and then what you need to work on to meet your personal goals for improvement?        When you evaluate yourself against the expectations for your job position, are you realistic?

Garry Trudeau writes the Doonesbury Cartoon Strip at http://doonesbury.slate.com.  He has shared:  “I’ve been getting pulled from newspapers for my entire life.”  He has learned from the experience and moved on to write the next Doonesbury Cartoon Strip.

However you are handling Feed, Fodder or Feedback this week, Choose Who You Want to be Known As.  Enjoy your week!

“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Career Management Coach and Change Agent

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