Project management is not just the initial planning stage, but it’s the entire process from beginning till end—this calls for consistent progress checks. In other words, feedback itself is a crucial part of this, making it an indispensable project management skill.
How does this apply to you, as an artist seeking to manage their creative projects?
The Nature of Artists with Feedback
Feedback, in any industry is unavoidable—especially so in art. Despite the commonality of it, negative criticism can still deal a huge blow to motivation or ego. More often than not, artists leave a part of themselves in their creations, so negative feedback can feel much more personal than intended. But it’s an essential part of growth, and the way less-than-positive comments affects you is ultimately up to you.
However, as artists make their way in the industry and start working with clients— expectations and requirements against personal preferences are unavoidable. So, how can artists receive and give feedback, in the healthiest and most effective ways possible?
Giving Feedback: What to Do
Remember that the point of feedback is to nurture artistic development—it shouldn’t be used as an opportunity to take a jab at someone’s creation. It’s a powerful project management skill that can help you and your team’s artistic tasks stay in the planned lane.
Note that there is no “right” way to give feedback, it often depends on the nuance of a situation. However, it can be argued that there is a wrong way—when your feedback is overly hurtful, baseless and extinguishes creativity rather than fuels is, you’re heading in the wrong direction. Inspire confidence, boost motivation and nurture quality within your project team.
Here are a few suggestions on how to conduct feedback, constructively.
1. Use Feedback Methods
CORE
CORE stands for Context, Observation, Result and nExt stEps. Essentially your feedback should reference the situation, describe the art, note its effects and discuss what must be done next.
Candid Feedback
The principals of this kind of feedback are straightforward—criticise with the intent of helping, while staying humble and leaving room for your own critique. Keep feedback positive, tell them what they did right alongside what they had done wrong.
STATE
This stands for Share, Tell, Ask, Talk and Encourage. Share objective opinions, tell them how it has affected you, ask about the other party’s thoughts, talk to them cautiously, encourage them to challenge your words.
2. Give Emotionally Intelligent Feedback
Remember to empathise with the other party—put yourself in their shoes. How are they as a person? How do they react to certain things, how are they currently reacting to your words, etc. However, this should not be at the expense of objectivity because at the end of the day, your aim is to relay constructive feedback.
Here are a few key tips on giving feedback that displays high EQ:
Avoid shaming the other person. Validate and acknowledge any emotions they may be exhibiting.
Pay attention to body language and tone of voice throughout the feedback session.
Practise active listening.
Stay conscious of the intentions behind your feedback. Filtering personal agenda is highly encouraged, as it’s a sign of self-awareness.
However, if you’re in an online environment, this can be difficult. But there are ways to work around it:
Be as expressive as possible. For example, in TESSR Review, you can provide feedback in a few different ways, that help add nuance back into a virtual platform. Emojis, dynamic annotation tools and voice messages can help you get the job well done.
Explore more about how TESSR Review allows you and your team to collaborate with our article here.
Receiving Feedback: How to
You cannot control what kind of feedback you receive, but what you can control is how you decide to take it. Just like any other piece of information you come across, feedback should be filtered and observed. Question if the feedback is genuine, if it’s useful or biased.
1. Identifying Negative, Uncritical Feedback
In a professional working environment, you have all the right to expect well-delivered feedback. In general, good feedback is delivered in a respectful way and communicates the
(i) Issues (ii) Expectations, and (iii) Resolutions, of your work. If you don’t receive the information mentioned, and unhelpful criticism is laid out in front of you instead—it can be considered as negative, uncritical feedback. Here are some examples:
Personal attacks: The feedback lacks respect, appears sarcastic and/or depreciates the work, such as: “This is terrible.”, “Oh wow, so you consider this “Good to go”?”
Vague and non-specific: This type of feedback expects you to keep looking for a solution without knowing their expectations—this can affect productivity and may be demotivating. This might be shown as “I just don’t like it.”, “Something doesn’t look right, but I can’t tell you what.”
Receiving these kinds of feedback can push us into negative headspaces, stagnating healthy growth and advancement. So, how can we deal with this?
a. Remind yourself of your value: If you are already doing your best, don’t stop! Try not to take negative comments personally because those are projected attacks that have nothing to do with you or your art—don’t let false criticism drag you down. It’s easy to let your emotions get in the way of your work and plans, hindering your workflow and ability to execute projects objectively.
b. Respond with respect and establish requisites: If responding is unavoidable, ask questions to clarify (i) What are the issues ii) What are the expectations, and (iii) Are there any suggestions for amendment? When you don’t receive clear answers, gently put your foot down by setting requisites—be upfront about needing specifications and clarity.
c. Seek for support from your circle: Even if you are able to discern when you should or should not take things personally, continuously receiving negative feedback might cause doubt and insecurity. Therefore, artists should make sure they have a support system, where they can share and seek advice if needed.
2. Leveraging Constructive Feedback
Not all negative feedback is bad. We’ve detailed a few examples of it above, but generally;
if they’re clear, actionable and come from a place of empathy and experience—take from it.
1. Be Receptive
The age old saying about how you “Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching." rings true, once again. There’s always room for growth, and your art will only become more enriched as you see and hear new things. Stay humble—it’s in the best interest of your creations, and your projects.
2. Reach out: Ask for Multiple Sources
Ask for several opinions from people you value. You may hear varying statements—and that is exactly why it’s important. Gain insight from numerous perspectives, examine them and apply. Good feedback is an important aspect of project managements.
3. Focus on the Positive, too
It’s easy to get too into your head, when you receive feedback with any sort of negative connotations. But remember that constructive feedback typically includes what you did right as well. Work on the negatives but focus on the positives. Let that motivate you to grow—the more you improve, the more likely you’ll continue to receive positive comments. This is just one art project out of many to come—so don’t let negativity hold you and your team back from improvement.
Conclusion
Effectively giving and receiving feedback may not come to you immediately, but with discipline and consistency, this project management skill is bound to stick. Artists like you can feed off of constructive feedback, so don’t let this goldmine of learning go to waste! Thank you for reading.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR, and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
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