Maximizing Training & Development Impact Through Effective Feedback Strategies

Dear Professionals,

I coordinate all the activities of Training & Development at my company. As a part of that, I take feedback once the program finishes. However, when the program recently finished, I missed taking feedback from a few participants, including GMs.

Initially, when I sent a mail requesting the participants to send their feedback on the program, two people from senior positions sent it immediately. One is a General Manager (Functional), and the other is a Manager. However, even after 2 weeks, as I did not receive feedback from the rest of the participants, I sent a second mail asking them for feedback. The mistake I made was also addressing the mail to the GM & Manager (who had already sent the feedback) asking them to send the form.

I received a call from the manager immediately, stating that he had already sent the feedback and asked me to check again. Upon checking, I realized that even the GM had sent the form. I then sent a mail to the GM & Manager apologizing for the inconvenience caused. I spoke to the manager and admitted my mistake, apologizing for it. He obviously felt bad and warned me to be cautious when sending mails addressed to specific participants in the group in such situations. He further added that others were questioning him about it despite having sent it. I had no words. I agreed to it.

I decided to accept my mistake and sent another mail to all other participants, conveying that the GM & Manager had sent the form along with my apologies. I thought no one would question it further and would feel that I had accepted my mistake, but the situation turned out differently.

One participant, who is a Company Secretary, called me and asked, "Is it necessary to send the apology mail to everyone? It is fine if you send it to the concerned people." I was surprised again, speechless. I blamed myself for creating such a mess in the office. I aimed to be sincere in accepting my mistake, but it rebounded so hard that now I feel guilty about my behavior. I am concerned that people will pass on this issue to coworkers, and I will appear foolish to them.

Please tell me, did I make a mistake? Am I overthinking this? It has been six months in this organization. What should I do? Your response, whether negative or positive, would surely bring some relief to my concerns. Please suggest.

Regards, Sravani

Thank you for posting your question, Sravani.

Yes, in a way. When you sent the original email, you should have added that the email was a general one to the participants on your mailing list, and those that had already responded should ignore it. This step would have avoided the problems with the GM and the other manager.

When you sent the second mailshot, there was no need to have mentioned the GM, etc. You should have said that you were sorry for not including the above statement in blue. Do not worry, time is a healer, and people will forget this omission.

Have a nice day.

Narasimhan

Dear Professionals,

I coordinate all the activities of Training & Development at my company. As a part of which, I take feedback once the program finishes. But recently when the program finished, I missed taking the feedback of a few participants, including the GMs.

Initially, when I sent an email requesting the participants to send their feedback on the program, two people from senior positions sent it immediately - one being the General Manager (Functional) and the other a Manager. However, even after two weeks, as I did not receive feedback from the rest of the participants, I sent a second email asking them for feedback. The mistake I made was also addressing the email to the GM & Manager (who had already sent the feedback) asking them to send the form.

Immediately, I received a call from the manager stating that he had already sent the feedback and asked me to check it. On checking, I realized that even the GM had sent the form. I then sent an email to the GM & Manager apologizing for the inconvenience caused. I spoke to the manager and accepted that it was a mistake, apologizing for it. He obviously felt bad and warned me to be cautious when sending emails to specific participants in such situations. He further added that others were questioning him about it despite sending it. I had no words to speak. I agreed to it.

So, I decided to accept my mistake and sent another email to all other participants stating that the GM & Manager had sent the form along with my apologies. I thought no one would question it now and feel that I had accepted my mistake, but the situation was reversed.

Among the participants, the Company Secretary called me and asked, "Is it required to send the apology email to everyone? It is fine if you send it to the concerned people." I was surprised again, no words to speak. I cursed myself for creating such a mess in the office. I thought of being sincere in accepting my mistake, but it backfired so hard that now I feel guilty about my behavior. I am worried that people will pass on this issue to co-employees, and I will look stupid before them.

Please tell me, did I make a mistake? Am I bothered too much? It has been six months in this organization. What to do?

Your response, whether negative or positive, would surely bring some relief to my concern. Please suggest.

Regards,

Sravani

Dear Friend,

I remember a story while reading your stuff that I would like to share with everyone.

Once there was a young boy, and his father with their donkey was on the way coming home after laborious work.

On the way, they met a friend who asked why don't you guys sit on the donkey and conveniently go. The father and son realized this, and both sat on the donkey.

They came across one more friend on the way who asked why you guys are harassing/exploiting the poor donkey like this. The father and son again realized this, and the father asked his son to be seated, and he would go with him by walking.

They met another friend on the way who immediately started criticizing the son that you are so young and energetic and still sitting on the donkey while your poor father is walking on foot. Shame on you!! Realizing this, the son asked his father that the man was right and now you sit on the donkey, and I will go by walk.

They met one more friend on the way who started criticizing the father that why are you treating your such a young son like this. The poor child is on foot, and you are sitting so comfortably and enjoying the ride on the donkey.

After this, both the father and son were so confused and thought about what they should do now...

The moral of this old story is that you can never keep all people happy... I hope you got the message I want to deliver through this old story.

Regards

Well, you must have gotten confused or perhaps felt too guilty and must have been numb at that time, not knowing what to do. Don't worry; from life, we learn.

Happy learning

Hi Sravani,

We are all human beings, and we all make mistakes. I understand that you were too worried when you sent the wrong email to senior people. However, this is not a mistake per se; it happens to everyone. Yes, you could have handled it better. At the same time, sending an apology email to all was not a big issue. It's actually good that you accepted it. It's foolish on the part of the other employee (computer secretary) to have called and asked you. You could have laughed at his fussy behavior. This shows that he does not mind his own work.

Just forget the incident and laugh it off. Don't take it too seriously. But yes, learn from this. Don't talk at all about this matter, and people will forget. No one has time to spend on these things. Relax and keep up the good work.

Regards,

Sravani,

Those who are doing work only make mistakes, and they will rectify them. Fellows who don't work will not receive anything. Once you come across such hurdles, you won't repeat them.

Think positively and be happy. The future is always in your hands, and you can shape it your way.

BYE
GK

Dear Sravani,

Forget all this; whether you have done wrong or whatever you did, mistakes occur where there is work, and in this case, there was no work. Be proactive in sending these types of emails or any written communication.

Go ahead. Sometimes we have to ignore what people think.

Dear Sravani,

Whatever happened has happened. There is no point in brooding over it. We always make mistakes in life. But for God's sake, never repeat it in the future.

What you should have done is to circulate hard copies of feedback instead of circulating emails. This would have ensured that you would receive feedback from each participant.

What is the principle of communication? Check the channel of communication. Your "email" as a medium of communication created more problems for you.

Secondly, as a manager, you need to improve your checking skills. If you don't improve now, mistakes like this will continue to repeat.

The future is never dark or bright. We make it dark or bright. Take this as a learning lesson and move on to make your career bright.

All the best.

Dinesh V Divekar

Hi, you appear very worried about a small thing. Only those people who do virtually nothing do not commit mistakes. You asked for feedback, a manager replied, and you sent him another email. Once you realized your mistake and spoke to him about it, the matter should have ended there. There was no need to post your apology on email to him or worse, to the rest of the employees. It appears you may have panicked just a wee bit. Don't worry, such things keep on happening. Always remember that an apology is between two persons, and as far as possible, verbal. Written apologies are very official and are tendered in reply to show cause notices, and for big blunders only. You appear to be a little tense on the job. Relax a little, these are small issues.

Dear Sravani,

Yes, initially you made a mistake by sending reminders to the GM & Manager who have already submitted feedback forms. Secondly, you made a blunder (possibly due to nervousness or guilt) by sending an apology to everyone. This action may have been intended to inform others that their feedback had already been received and to demonstrate your willingness to acknowledge mistakes.

Okay, what should you do next? This should be a learning experience for the rest of your career. So, forget about the past and focus on the present!

Regards,
Uniquenaga
hr@spicaoffice.in