Culture of Feedback

Berkeley Lab’s IDEA strategy aims to unlock potential and innovation, and create a culture of welcoming and belonging within our teams. Part of this strategy is to explore beyond the research around team psychological safety, and understand how a culture of feedback can benefit the Lab as “the home of Team Science.”

Visualize a pyramid. The base layer is about establishing psychological safety, the center layer is achieving trust and respect within the team, and at the top is creating a culture of feedback. They are interconnected, and each component builds upon the layer underneath. 

Feedback is a tool that helps you grow. Receiving or giving feedback is not comfortable and many of us shy away from feedback because it makes us uneasy. Perhaps we don’t feel as if we need feedback because as a highly successful leader and employee, we do things right. But everyone can do better. 

Feedback can be a gift -- a gift that can make you a better employee, a better leader, and a better person. It can help us to innovate and improve our approach for better results. It is possible to learn to separate the feedback from the person who offers it, understand our personal style of giving and receiving feedback, and move toward a more effective feedback experience. 

Developing a culture of feedback at the Lab is not just about being a giver and receiver, but also becoming an asker of feedback. If we are able to promote expectations around feedback and developing a growth mindset, we can start moving toward a more collaborative and innovative Team Science environment.