How can you consolidate feedback?

Farra Trompeter: Welcome to the Smart Communications Podcast. I am Farra Trompeter, co-director and worker-owner at Big Duck. Today, we’re going to ask the question: How can you consolidate feedback? And I’m delighted to be joined by J Kelley. J uses they/them pronouns and is a senior account manager at Big Duck. J is committed to delivering supportive, well-structured, and high-quality client experiences. Their work before and beyond Big Duck has been focused on queer liberation, economic justice, and ending endless war. They have experienced working thoughtfully and intersectionally in a variety of issue area contexts. J has actually been on the podcast before: Episode 181: How do we foster healthy group participation? And also on Episode 169: How can you plan an inclusive and welcoming project? J, welcome back to the show.

J Kelley: Hello, hello. Excited to be back.

Farra Trompeter: Well, so J, you recently wrote a blog called A simple guide for consolidating feedback, and that blog offers six very helpful steps for how to do just that. I hope folks will take the time to read the post, and we’ll be sure to link to it at bigduck.com/insights. But for those who’ve not already read that yet, let’s offer a bit of a teaser. Before we get into those six steps, though, why did you write this blog? How has this come up for you as a challenge and opportunity in your role in managing projects?

J Kelley: Absolutely. So as someone who is an account manager at Big Duck this comes up quite frequently because I am often the person who is the first person to receive consolidated feedback from the clients that we work with. And then I’m also the person responsible for communicating that feedback to the rest of the project team and sort of communicating what are the corresponding next steps in relationship to that feedback. And you know, sometimes I receive feedback that is clear, concise, and super implementable, and other times I receive feedback that perhaps is unclear, maybe some contradicting ideas in there, and ultimately, feedback that is actually challenging to implement without additional discussion, clarification, all of which can impact the project’s timeline and budget. Now, of course, most people land on the middle of that spectrum somewhere. And I often have conversations with folks who are struggling, right? I’ll send them, you know, here’s a round one draft of X, Y, Z, and they’re like, “Wait, what feedback do I give and when do I give it in the process? And how do I communicate our feedback in a way that makes sense to y’all?” And this blog is sort of emerging as an opportunity to articulate some of the best practices I’ve seen in my career. And, hopefully, these will feel supportive to folks who find themselves in a position to gather, synthesize, and communicate that feedback for implementation.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, it’s very helpful. And we also have a few other blogs and podcasts we’ve done on feedback, many of which are linked to as related posts in J’s blog. So another plug to check it out. Well, I feel like we should recap these six steps and then dive more deeply into a few of them. So J, can you share the six steps?

J Kelley: Step one: Map your stakeholder landscape. Step two: Plan intentional touchpoints. Step three: Center transparency and consent. Step four: Context is key. Step five: Sort and probe. And finally, step six: Create an implementation roadmap.

Farra Trompeter: Well, with the emphasis you gave in reading those, I’m going to guess which one is your favorite, but we’re going to see what comes to light in this conversation. Obviously, all six of those steps are critical, and I can imagine them actually being for lots of other projects, but certainly in the process of giving feedback. But J, if you had to pick just one, and again, I’m going to guess based on your voice when you read those off, which do you think is the most important step to follow if people want to lead or be part of a successful project, and why?

J Kelley: Yes. My voice does tend to give away my favorites in advance, and there’s actually, I’m kind of torn, admittedly, because there’s two that feel super important and very interrelated, actually. And that is Context is key, and Create an implementation roadmap. And for me, the connection is there because both ultimately are about ensuring that everyone is clear on the goal and where we are in regards to meeting that goal, and what reaching that goal looks like in terms of taking our next step together. So, context being key, this is super important because it is very easy in our fast-paced world to pass along a document to someone internally to review without any context, and, just, it’s the wild, wild west, right? And while that’s understandable, that actually is very challenging because you might be inadvertently getting feedback that is not additive to the process.

J Kelley: So we always recommend when you ask someone for feedback, you give them a lot of context. Any like, you know, project, you know, we often at Big Duck before we start a project, we have a project brief, right? We really align intentionally around what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and what success looks like. And you know, there’s lots of other tools and ways you can sort of create that alignment. And then making sure you’re giving that context again when you ask for feedback because it’s very easy to forget that the project brief you reviewed three months ago is still actually relevant, right? And making sure that folks know, “Okay, I’m giving feedback to a round one draft versus around five draft,” right? You want to, sort of, people know where you are in the process so that they can temper their feedback appropriately, and so they know what’s helpful, right? Are you looking for line edits or are you just looking for general, are-we-in-the-right-ballpark kind of feedback.

J Kelley: And then relatedly, once you sort of get to the bottom of this very contextualized feedback, then you want to create an implementation roadmap that’s super clear, right? You want to take these things that people are saying to you and communicate them in a way that any stranger on the street could pick up your feedback and implement it without a challenge, right? I mean, obviously, maybe a person on the street isn’t super relevant, but I think a lot about experiences that I’ve had managing interns that I think is similar, right? These are engagements where you’re working with folks in the short term, often on a part-time basis, and they may be coming in with varying levels of sort of experience and institutional knowledge. And when you assign an intern a task, I mean obviously asking questions is a great way to collaborate, but often you are working with interns because there’s so much going on and you want to make sure that you pass off these tasks to an intern in a way that they can immediately from where they are and what they know pick up and soar. And I think that same kind of approach is really valuable in giving feedback as well.

Farra Trompeter: That was really helpful. Well, just to give our listeners and our readers of the transcript here a little more to mull over, let’s talk about another step. One that I think is essential. Again, I love them all, hard to pick a favorite, but I’m going to start at the very beginning with “Map your stakeholder landscape”. I’m often having conversations with folks in the beginning of projects or before we even start projects to help understand “Where do people show up in the process?” And this is a really important step because if you’re not clear at the beginning, things can easily get derailed, or you can wind up with too many cooks. J, can you share a time when you’ve seen this one, “Map your stakeholder landscape,” practiced well, so we can get a better understanding of how it can be applied?

J Kelley: I actually recently had a call with a client at the very beginning of a project that we are collaborating on together. And normally, at the start of a project, I have a handy little worksheet of sorts to help folks map their internal stakeholders for the specific project that we’re collaborating on. And historically, it is not uncommon for that to not get filled out in the course of our work together, right? It can feel like a lot of work to do. And so I was so surprised when on the call immediately as soon as I sort of walked them through the worksheet with the intention of saying “Maybe you could get this done in the next two weeks,” they immediately started just rattling off exactly what their stakeholder landscape was and boom, I put it in the spreadsheet we were done before the meeting was even over.

J Kelley: And when I was sort of reflecting on, “Wait, how did that go so well?” I was reminded, and this is sort of in some of what you know we had discussed throughout the rest of the call, is that anytime you need to map out your stakeholders, you don’t actually have to start from scratch, right? Even if you know, we’re talking today in the context of giving feedback to some sort of probably copy or visual-related deliverable that you’re working on, but we’re always at work doing projects with other people, and so you never really have to reinvent your wheel, right? These sorts of structures that we put in place to map stakeholders, MOCHA, other things that folks use and are out there, you can be repurposing that between projects. Because even though certainly folks will be changed out, again, no point in reinventing the wheel, right? You can rely on the work that you’ve already done to map out stakeholders in other contexts.

J Kelley: And also they’ve also sort of showed up later in an email, maybe like a week or so after that, when we were sort of deciding attendance for a meeting. And this was a little bit beyond the scope of the stakeholder landscape that we had mapped. So they were coming to me to sort of ask, “Okay, here’s who we need in the meeting, and here’s people who we think want to be included on an optional basis, but it may be too many cooks in the kitchen. What do you think?” And then we were able to have a really strategic conversation around, “Okay, now that we know why their involvement is important.” Even though we don’t have them on the map, we had enough information to know where to put them on the map, and then we could suggest other things like, “Okay, maybe they don’t attend the meeting, but we should record the meeting and send along notes after, and then give them some time to review that content and offer their input, optionally, if so, choose.” Right? And so the more that you know about your stakeholder landscape, the easier it is to make decisions about surprise needs for engagement as you move through a project together.

Farra Trompeter: Love it. Well, in this conversation, we’re talking both about gathering and compiling feedback, we’re also, you mentioned, talking a little bit about feedback that often happens when we’re doing creative work. In particular, at Big Duck, we do a lot of work related to branding and campaigns, and collateral. And I’m curious, what guidelines or advice do you have regarding the kinds of feedback that’s most helpful, particularly on creative work itself, and perhaps what is not helpful?

J Kelley: Absolutely. And I know, as someone who is not a graphic designer, I deeply empathize with everyone who is not a graphic designer who has been asked to give a designer feedback about a logo or visuals. And it can be very overwhelming, right? I know I get imposter syndrome, like what, “What could I possibly say to this well-trained professional about this beautiful thing they made that maybe isn’t like landing the way I want it to, but what do I say?” So if that’s you, you’re in good company. And I know something that I try to do and recommend others do, and when they find themselves in that situation, often when I react to visual content in particular, it can be really an emotional impulse, right? Like I just know in my heart, in my body that I don’t like X, Y, Z or that I do like X, Y, Z. And often it can be really challenging to sort of explain why I am like, I don’t know, “I just hate purple and I can’t tell you why”. I don’t actually hate purple, of course, that would be insane.

Farra Trompeter: Now you’re really… Strike to my heart. If you haven’t met me, anyone in the world knows I love the color purple, my glasses, my hair, often my pants. You can’t see that. J’s tank top. We love the color purple. Alright, J, go back.

J Kelley: Ironically I am in fact wearing purple.

Farra Trompeter: Exactly. Let’s say someone out there doesn’t like the color purple for the sake of your conversation here.

J Kelley: What can be helpful is trying to attach a thought to that emotion, right? Figuring out, “Okay, I don’t like this, but why don’t I like this?” What is the idea that is perhaps being communicated that you actually don’t want to communicate? Or vice versa? You know, I know that I don’t like blue, but I know that’s just a personal preference. However, if I see content with blue and I have that reaction, I can take a second to say, “Am I reacting this way because I just simply never like blue in any context? Or is there a quality to this blue that doesn’t feel on the mark?” Right? So, for me, even though I do hate all blue, what I hate the most is like stark, jarring blue.

J Kelley: And you know, I could see myself giving feedback, like “I admit I don’t like blue. However, for me, this blue is maybe more jarring. Like I want to see something a little bit more welcoming and inviting, and a really like fluorescent blue just feels off-putting to me.” And so again, you know, I certainly started with a feeling, but I was able to extract a thought from the feeling that someone can then take action on and understand why they’re doing it. And this sort of gets at this related idea of being as objective as you can, even though ultimately a lot of feedback is subjective, but the more you can tie it, not just specific thoughts, but if you can go back to a project brief and be like, “I think this choice doesn’t meet X, Y, Z in this brief” that’s even better, right? If you can get this out of the world of sort of your specific instincts, perhaps around what you’re talking about.

J Kelley: Like, is there project agreements or alignment around outcomes that you actually don’t think are going to get met if this choice is made? Which is exactly why you’re giving feedback in the first place, so that’s beautiful. That is sort of like the 201. Connect an emotion to a thought: 101. 201: Make it objective and tie it to some sort of document like that. Because what often happens in these situations is it’s really easy to name a solution without actually naming the problem. You know, in our fast-paced world, that’s good enough, and we deal with that. But as much as we need to, the more that you can name what is not working and why, as opposed to saying, “I’m just going to share with you the logo of Target and be like, I want this to be more like the Target logo,” which can be helpful in its way, right? Like again, there’s, you know, there’s no bad way of communicating, but the goal here is to communicate as effectively and as specifically as possible.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah. And everything you were just sharing, it’s really getting more at the why than the what. Not that “I don’t like blue or purple” or “I want it to be like Target”, but the why behind it is, “It’s too jarring,” or “I want it more tranquil“, or “I want something that’s just really clear and simple and that what you’ve presented just feels overwhelming”. That is the kind of feedback that’s really helpful, and you don’t have to solve it, right? You’ve hired a freelancer or an agency, or you’re collaborating with someone else who will join you or lead in the solution. But understanding what’s not working is the kind of feedback that really will help take visuals, and also, I would say messaging, too, this comes up a lot with words. People have a lot of strong feelings about specific words and ideas. Again, as you said, that’s okay, we’re here to learn about what those are, but help us understand why things are not feeling right to you.

J Kelley: I think of it as “Resist the urge to rewrite”, which is another urge I too empathize with. When you see something in writing and it doesn’t work, sometimes it is just easier just to write it yourself. But again, you’re working with really skilled, talented people who can help you. So you have to figure out a way to help them that isn’t just, “I’m going to do this myself”.

Farra Trompeter: Especially in the first or second round, right? When you’re still just ideating and trying to figure it out. Back to our various maps. Well, I hope this conversation has given you a lot to think about, and I encourage you to read or reread J’s blog and again, all of those other helpful posts we have out there about project management and inclusive practices at bigduck.com/insights. J, thank you so much for joining us again. And before we go, any other parting words of wisdom you’d like to share?

J Kelley: Absolutely. You know, I would say if you are like me and in a position to be consolidating and communicating feedback, just embrace that chaos with intention, confidence, and a sense of humor. And you can’t go wrong. And if you do go wrong, at least you’ll be enjoying it while it happens.

Farra Trompeter: There you go. Right? Find something to laugh at. Take a step back. Well, J, thanks for being here, and everyone out there, have a great rest of your day.