100% Smiles
One of my favorite stories about feedback is when I was clearing immigration after landing in Beijing.
After a long flight, I finally made it to the front of a very long line and handed the agent my passport, opened to the page with my time-intensively acquired Chinese visa. He examined that, then examined me, then flipped through the other stamps in my passport. Finally, he picked up his stamp to grant me entry.
But before he stamped, he gestured at me and asked, “You push button?”
I looked down. Between us there were three buttons: a frowny face, a neutral face, and a happy face. A feedback mechanism, for sure.
He kept looking at me, stamp in the air.
I pressed the smiley face.
“Welcome to China,” he said.
I think about this every time I think about feedback. Because what’s often more important (or at least more telling) than the feedback itself are the circumstances under which it’s collected: how, when, and why.
After all, if that methodology was applied consistently, I’m pretty sure the Chinese immigration authorities were reporting 100% smiles.
That said, it can be difficult for people and/or organizations in positions of authority to get honest, constructive feedback. Sometimes it’s obvious why. For example, there’s no world where I am telling a Chinese immigration officer – while he can still decide to not let me into the country – that he is doing a frowny face job.
But even when people give negative feedback, sometimes they are doing so without full context. And if they had that, then maybe the feedback might be different.
That’s hard because feedback up – simply because of the context – has the potential to create so much more change and value than feedback down.
I think a lot about what the world is trying to tell me. And while there is signal in the noise, the signal is also inconsistent.
– Tim
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