Some words that should literally come out of your mouth when giving creative feedback

Thanks Marcus Romer wherever you are!

The word 'grammar' comes from the ancient word 'grimoir' meaning 'book of spells'. The word spelling comes from spell-casting. When we say magic, we mean words. Because words are transformational. The right words in the right order can make you laugh out loud as you read them. Fill you with optimism, or envelope you with fear.

In the same way the words we use in in our creative feedback have the power to unlock inspirational, transformational and creative power. Or exactly the opposite.

Based on the high number of times I am asked questions about it, giving feedback to creative people about their work is a tricky area. Able to trip up even the most experienced of executives, critiquing people’s work without making it feel as though you are critiquing THEM is one of those skills that the best leaders are always pushing themselves to get better at.

Recently during a project I was asked by one such smart leader for some advice in this tricky area. I sent them a memo outlining my thoughts which they found useful enough for me to consider passing it on. So here you go:

Here’s the thing I wanted to share with you re: feedback. It’s based on advice to build Psychological Safety from the brilliant mind that first developed the term – Dr Amy Edmondson.

This is a LINK to the specific point in a video where she talks about the below – but feel free to watch the whole 11m video if you have time to see the context.

She is talking about building PS in general but there are lessons for giving great feedback to creatives here too.

1. Frame work as learning problems, rather than execution problems

What you might say - “creativity is inherently about doing something new, so it’s natural – and indeed REQUIRED - that we will get things wrong. So let’s help each other learn as we review this work…”

2. Acknowledge your own fallibility

What you might say – “I am the boss yes, but that doesn’t mean I have all the answers – I really need different points of view than my own to build my understanding of the problem”

3. Model curiosity by asking a lot of questions

Instead of saying what you think, put everything it into a question – literally.

What you might say - Instead of “I’m not sure this line of copy is right for the audience”, say “Bearing in mind the audience what do you think of this copy?” – they may not come up with the exact issue that you are thinking of, but it opens up the conversation.

Another technique is to ask them “What are you most excited about in this idea? And where are you most unsure/Are there any gaps that need to be filled in?” – you are basically inviting the creative team to critique their own work which puts them into a detached objective mindset vs emotional creator of the idea, which then allows you to have a better conversation.

With all of these three you really do have to OVER -communicate each of them constantly. You can’t just say it a few times in a feedback session and expect them to have heard you. You should repeat these key messages til the team are incredibly bored of you saying them, because that means it is going in. Each of these three messages will work together over time to build an environment in which you can be progressively more and more direct and informal about how you deliver feedback, ultimately to the point where you can have creative feedback conversations which feel like informal ‘Peer to Peer’ sessions rather than formal ‘Leader to Follower’ ones.