I recently led four workshops in one week for two organizations. The workshops were repeated to different audiences. One organization was a healthcare insurance service provider; another was an association of substance recovery service providers. The total number of participants for the four workshops was 250.
Hearing Gremlins
After the first round, I asked the workshop organizers to provide feedback. As they began, I heard an inner gremlin (negative voice). I had always been open to positive and constructive feedback, which had been the case since I started speaking at the early age of 12. However, that didn’t make it easier to hear. Yes, I was embracing positive and constructive feed, but most of the time I felt like I was bracing for it!
Creating a Survey
Anyway, I knew I needed to make some changes to maximize the impact of my presentation in the second round. Beyond receiving feedback from the organizers, I worked with one of the partners, prior to the training, to create a survey in which individual participants could provide feedback about their experiences. I was particularly interested in getting constructive feedback to improve my round-two presentation. As a longtime presenter and trainer myself, I am not naive enough to think I would win 100% approval in every category. But that wasn’t the point of the survey. It was to measure how well the participants understood the main goal of the program and to make improvements where I was falling short.
No Apology Necessary
The organizers began their constructive feedback with an apology. They wanted to make sure I would not take their feedback personally. They were worried I might be offended. I knew where they were coming from and I realized that providing constructive feedback can be as hard as receiving it. So I assured them that they did not have to justify or sugarcoat their feedback. They were being honest and I welcomed it. After all, it’s genuine feedback that makes me a better presenter/trainer.
In my first presentation with the healthcare insurance organization I had some technology problems. My Zoom account was not allowing me to login through my email sign in method. I had to login through my phone and ask for permission to get access with my desktop. The entire process took 7-10 minutes off my presentation. I was not panicking. I knew I was going to rebound once I was able to get in, which I did. The lost time did impact my closing though. Afterwards, I asked my point of contact, a VP at the company, to provide feedback. She was able to do it but was obviously uncomfortable about it. As did the other organizers, she began her constructive feedback with an apology and ended by nicely recommending that I did not have to honor her suggestions. While she seemed to be undervaluing her assessments, she did provide both positive and constructive feedback. She recommended tweaking some stuff, which basically told me that the bulk of my presentation was right on target and did not have to change.
For example, she suggested the order of my presentation should be flipped on its head, so my personal story came before the training instead of after. I kept my personal story at the end of the training because I did not want the participants to get too caught up in it. I was afraid that they might lose focus on their own perspectives and how they influenced the way they saw those who were different from them. It was an easy tweak, In fact, that was how I usually presented. Another suggestion was to condense my small group sessions from 15 to 10 minutes. She also suggested altering some of my original slides. So, despite her reservations, she provided much needed feedback to improve my next presentation.
The organizer of the substance use recovery association suggested I expand the end points.. She felt the slides were very important in providing the participants with tools to address their biases, to be more inclusive, to confront their prejudices and discriminatory behaviors. She thought the participants should be told at the beginning of the presentation to anticipate staying for another 10-15 minutes, rather than spring it on them at the end. Both were good recommendations. I also knew I needed to provide enough time for the participants to engage with the solutions. Unfortunately, we had run out of time, thanks to my Zoom login hassle, and I had to rush the last three slides.
As I mentioned previously, I have been speaking and presenting to different audiences since I was 12 years old. I tell my personal story, the escape of my family from the civil war in the Congo after my father’s assassination. Early on in my American experience, I was involved with a Christian organization that did inner city outreach in different communities in different cities. The program staff always provides constructive feedback after every presentation I make. Sometimes I would be asked to tell my story in 2, 5, 10 or 20 minutes. I remained with the program for 8 years, doing presentations and performances to different communities every summer. With most of my audiences, I had to work hard to grab their attention. Sometimes the presentations were in churches, schools and community centers, but mostly, they were in the streets and parks where people were hanging out. We interrupted their experience with an ad hoc presentation.
Eventually, my presentation topics shifted when I started college. I worked part-time for the admissions department doing outreach to potential first-year students. Appropriately, one of my topics was the importance of higher education for low income minority students. After college, when I started working for corporations, my presentation topics shifted again, this time including program launches, partnership objectives, reporting on data to various partners. Today, as a full time consultant and speaker, I lead training workshops and speak to various organizations on a of topics: DEI, Program Implementation, Performing Arts, Students Success, Refugee Experience, User Experience, k-university institutions, real estate companies, tech companies, government agencies, mortgage companies, etc. Receiving feedback to improve my services has always been a fuel for my growth. I do a lot of co-designing with organizations that are already clients. What differentiates my services is my ability to customize my trainer/workshops to the specific needs of the organizations I’m partnering with.
Today, constructive feedback, along with the results it inspires, is embedded into my approach. It’s not easy to demand genuine, honest feedback. It comes from the confidence to hear negative, as well as positive, feedback. As a consultant/trainer though, it is less about me and more about the goals of the organizations I serve. So, it is very important for me to tear down my emotional walls in order to meet organizations where they are, on their own mental turf.
After my recent presentations, I started looking at the participant survey results. I was a little nervous to read the feedback and look through the data. I was very surprised at the amount of surveys I received from one of the partners. In four days, 80 people had filled out the survey, a little more than half of the participants from two presentations to one partner. I reminded myself that every bit of feedback, good or bad, was good for my work. The thought grounded me. My apprehensions proved to be unwarranted. 89.9 percent of the 80 respondents stated that they would recommend the training to someone else. 80.08 percent said that organizations should continue to provide more diversity, equity and inclusion training. I felt very encouraged by that. Another positive was that directors now had access to a respected consultant to provide better and ongoing training to their communities.
In the survey I also provided sections for people to express their points of view. I received 33 responses. Which I thought was amazing. And there was a lot of positive and constructive feedback. There was some disagreement among the participants, but all their feedback was very important. As a trainer, it’s all gold, a collection of data for me to evaluate my approach and consider ways to better engage, inspire, ignite and evoke positive changes. Below are some of the comments from the participants.
Some of the positive feedbacks
Appreciate really taking a good deep reflection of where and when biases develop in our lives and the influence of those early perceptions on our interactions in the present. Covered a lot of thislearning in a short period of time. liked breaking into small groups. I shall be more aware of how I see people, and more able to t ake this all into consideration.
Personal story was very powerful
Deo is a very enthusiastic and engaging presenter. I appreciated that he acknowledged and encouraged folks to confront the inevitable discomfort of examining our own biases.
Deo was an excellent host.
Strong training
I wish we had more time for discussion in the breakout zoom rooms.
I think this training should be available to the RCO a few times a year,it has really opened my eyes to a clearer understanding about racism in our country.
Some of the constructive feedbacks
The group breakout questions were not conducive to effective and productive discussion and learning. In all of the breakout groups I participated in everyone seemed confused on what was being asked and spent more time trying to figure out what was meant by the question than discussing and sharing thoughts.
Would have appreciated more participation, vulnerability & honesty in breakout groups. I feel the only way we can learn from this information is through being transparent about our own biases and assumptions and by feeling safe in sharing them.
Two hours was not enough time.
I liked the presenter but he could have posed much more interesting discussion questions such as why has the country awakened to racism at this time? How should the country respond to make things better? What do you plan to do? You assumed the participants hadn't read the books that formed the core of the presentation. Some of us have. Thus we didn't learn anything new
I think this was great but maybe focus less on bias.
Creating a space for honest and genuine feedback is very important in building relationships, building success programs and products. Before accepting it, you have to create a space where people feel authentic to be honest with you. Once the feedback is provided, you have to do something about it. You cannot just set on your laurel by feeding into the positive one. You have to embrace the constructive ones as well because it shows an opportunity to improve, grow and design stronger alliances with those who are giving it to you. Your service can only improve and have a great impact the closer you are to your participants and integrate their experiences in the solutions you provide. You have to move beyond the emotional impact and focus on the improvement and connections. It is never going to be easy to receive and embrace constructive feedback but many opportunities lie within them.