Chapter 6 – Integrator
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6.3 Responding to Feedback
(click the activity index number to take you back to the activities index)(click the heading to take you to the Giving feedback & active listening slide)
An important aspect of the Integrator role, is your ability to critically review your own
behaviour and its impact on those you work with over time. You should then, if
necessary, use these reflections to modify your existing behaviour appropriately. You
may need to make small changes or you may need to identify and adopt new
behaviours.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this activity is to develop the reflective
learner and critical observer parts of the integrator role.Before you embark on this activity, it is important to recognise that change in higher
education generally, as well as in individual universities, is constant and so behaviours
that were once appropriate may become less effective over time. This is one of the
things that makes the role of the Integrator so critical to your role as Academic
Coordinator. Thus it is highly likely that at some stage you will find that you seem to be
less effective in some situations than you were in the past (indirect negative feedback)
and/or that you will receive direct negative feedback from others on your performance.
This may have as much to do with the changing context in which you work as it has to do
with you. You may instinctively become defensive, feeling like you are being blamed,
and want to continue with your previous behaviours, because you know that they used to
work. It is time to stop and reflect, remembering that both indirect and direct negative
feedback can help you to learn how to do things better next time.
Developing appropriate responses to feedback is a very important strategy to employ
when seeking to develop your Integrator role. This activity is designed to develop your
ability to respond positively to feedback, in particular to feedback on your inconsistencies
and hypocrisies. It builds on the reflections that you have already undertaken in
completing the Johari window^1.