​​Let’s talk about feedback culture in politics!

​​Let’s talk about feedback culture in politics!

The first time I delivered a workshop for a political movement was on “organisational development.” Specifically, it focused on the importance of creating a culture of feedback in newly formed political organisations. The board of this particular political party requested me to deliver this workshop to their staff members. During the workshop, I noticed that many of the attendees were sceptical of this “feedback culture” concept. While they were still curious and interested in the topic, t was clear that they were not happy to have to stay late on a Thursday evening to attend a workshop on feedback.

A week after the workshop, I asked for feedback from the attendees. Two members of the board of the party praised the workshop and mentioned that they wanted to promote the concept of regular feedback within the organisation to improve processes and optimise performance. However, the party’s Executive Director (A fully operational position) was hesitant to express anything positive or negative thoughts about the workshop. The board later asked me to do a follow-up workshop, and the director finally opened up to tell me separately:

“Luis, please do not take it as a personal offence, but do you think we need this? This feedback culture thing is too much of a corporate term kind of bullshit! This is a passive-aggressive strategy from the board to tell me indirectly that I am not doing a good job and that I should be open to getting feedback!”