Latest news with #feedback
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for the feedback you submitted on the Premier League club aim is to contain all of the BBC's in-depth coverage of that team in one place, so it helpful to hear from you - you are who the pages are for after are going through all your responses and will take suggestions on board for next season.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Repeat And Refine: Why Repetition Improves Performance For Leaders
Every leadership interaction is an opportunity to repeat and refine. Earlier this month, I returned home from a two-week stretch of delivering my Leadership Biodynamics training four times—four full cohorts, four two-day workshops, all within 14 days. I've taught this material dozens of times, but never in such a concentrated rhythm. The experience sharpened my approach more than any single delivery ever had. By the end, my pacing was tighter, transitions cleaner, and my ability to read and respond to participant cues more precise. It reminded me of something I often tell the leaders I work with: repetition improves performance, not through mindless repetition, but through reflective variation. Every time you engage in a meaningful interaction, you gain a chance to observe, adjust, and improve. Stand-up comics understand this intuitively. Before a new hour of comedy hits a Netflix special, it's been tested in dozens of clubs. They repeat, refine, and adjust constantly until every beat lands. Not because they love repetition, but because they understand how feedback fuels performance. Repeat and refine isn't just a strategy for comics. It's a powerful tool for leaders. It's how you sharpen behavioral signals, improve real-time decision-making, and build a repertoire of interaction patterns that drive outcomes. Every leadership moment is an opportunity to test, learn, and optimize. Repetition, when done right, isn't rote. It's adaptive. Research on deliberate practice by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson shows that improvement comes not from repeating the same behavior over and over, but from adjusting performance based on tight feedback loops. The brain gets sharper through cycles of prediction, action, and recalibration. This kind of repetition works especially well in compressed, high-frequency contexts. When you teach something four times in two weeks, or lead four similar strategic discussions in a short span, you're not just remembering your material. You're gaining behavioral fluency. What improves isn't just what you say, but how you say it, and how you adapt to others in the moment. Jerry Seinfeld takes a scientific approach to comedy Few professions understand repetition like comedians. They obsess over timing, tone, rhythm, and silence. Jerry Seinfeld has described his process as 'very scientific.' He tests material like an experiment, gathers feedback as data, and rewrites until the flow feels right to his ear and works with a live audience. Jim Gaffigan echoed the same mindset in an interview, saying, 'The thing that I love about stand-up is that I feel like I'm getting better at it.' That sense of getting better through constant refinement is the core of the craft. Leaders may not be working toward applause, but they are constantly working toward clarity, credibility, and influence. And like comics, they get there by refining how they show up in the room. The comparison holds, especially because most leadership isn't about prepared remarks. It's about everyday moments: checking in with a team member, pitching a new idea to a funder, navigating a difficult conversation with a peer. Each of these is a live performance, and each one is a chance to iterate. The late Donald Schön called this process reflective practice, distinguishing between two forms: I've learned to rely on both. During the training sessions, I notice the way a story lands, or when a participant leans in. That informs how I tweak the next segment. Afterward, I walk through what worked, what didn't, and what to try differently. Over time, the entire experience becomes sharper, more attuned, more effective. Schön described this as the difference between technical competence and professional artistry. It's not about delivering a script. It's about reading the room and responding in real time with craft. In my work on Leadership Biodynamics, I help leaders become more intentional with their behavioral signals—especially those that convey warmth, competence, and gravitas. These are not fixed traits. They're perceivable signals, and they land differently depending on how they're delivered. Every time you interact with someone—a direct report, a board member, a client—you're sending signals. The more intentional you are about those signals, the more likely they'll create the kind of connection or influence you need in that moment. Over time, repetition with reflection builds a repertoire, not a routine. You begin to develop patterns of phrasing, tone, posture, and pacing that tend to land well across a range of situations. You can reach into that repertoire when the moment calls for it, adapting your delivery while staying authentic. This doesn't require a stage. It just requires a shift in mindset. Here's how to apply the repeat-and-refine approach to everyday leadership: This isn't about perfection. It's about behavioral precision. And that's what drives influence. For leaders, the goal isn't to perform. It's to develop a body of interactions that consistently prompt the strategic outcomes you're aiming for—especially those that create shared value. Insights from adaptive leadership support this shift toward experimentation, feedback, and evolution in real time. By the end of my fourth training in two weeks, I wasn't just delivering the material. I was tuned into it. Each session had helped me refine the message, the rhythm, the flow. But more than that, I had built a richer repertoire I can now carry into future interactions. Scientific research on feedback loops reinforces what comics and leaders alike come to know: repetition improves performance, but only when it's paired with reflection and adaptation. The best leaders don't just perform. They practice like professionals, learn like scientists, and refine like comics.
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Last call to give us thoughts on your club's page
With the 2024-25 Premier League season coming to a close, we would love to hear what you think of this club page.A huge thank you to those who have already submitted their responses and have interacted with the page in any capacity throughout the are continuously working to improve your experience and bring you the best possible content and coverage of your is your club and your what do you like?And what could be improved?Send thoughts here
News.com.au
23-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Can't say the same for you': Worker's savage response after termination
An employee has shared the moment she was laid off from her job, with her savage response earning her huge amounts of praise from social media users. The US woman, who goes by Karson Bree online, recently shared a recording of a video call from last year in which she was told by her then-employer that she would no longer be working for the company. Karson did not name the company and also blurred the faces of the other people in the video but, in the caption of the TikTok, she explained she had taken a job at a local magazine and described the experience as a 'sh*t show' After less than three months with the company, she was asked to join a video call with two senior staff members and an HR representative, in which she was told her employment was being 'terminated effective immediately'. Asked why she was being let go, her boss, who she referred to only as Lisa, informed her that it was coming towards the end of the first 90 days of her employment and felt it 'wasn't a great fit'. When Karson asked why they thought it wasn't a great fit her question was met with an almost 10 second silence. Her boss then pointed to issues like the publication going out late, having typos and her design not being a 'good fit' for the publication. Karson then asked if she could offer her own feedback to these claims, before launching into a detailed breakdown of her experience with the company. She claimed a lot of the reasons for these issues were out of her control, such as receiving materials late and not being given access to accounts that would help get things out on time. The worker claims she was 'met with roadblocks' every step of the way, before taking direct aim at her boss. 'I received very little feedback from you and often there were times where I did reach out to you without being told anything or having any reply or response whatsoever,' she said. 'I also found it very unacceptable to receive a message at 11pm last night informing me that I was going to be laid off the next day with this meeting and then immediately revoking my access to everything.' The woman added: 'I feel like I have done every step of the way of trying to do this job to the best of my abilities and, quite frankly, you have made it very difficult.' There was another long pause following this, after which Karson asked when the decision to end her employment was made. This time the other senior worker on the call, referred to as Kendall, responded, claiming there was 'no specific date' and they just felt it 'wasn't a good fit' and hoped she could find a role that was better suited to her 'style' of work. Once again, Karson pushed back on this, asking: 'So was it a problem with my style of working? Kendall I would love to know specifically if you had issues with my workflow with you.' The woman explained it wasn't as much a workflow problem as they found that she wasn't a stylistic fit for the magazine. But the worker wasn't done quite yet, saying that, in that case, she would 'love to make a suggestion'. 'If you guys want to maintain a good team and moving forward, you need to make sure that your leadership is also possessing the strengths that need to be had to make a well designed magazine,' Karson said, adding that if she had been given the proper materials in a timely manner she would have been able to do her job more effectively. 'I apologise for there being slips and typos and slight mistakes, but when it comes down to it, the publications being sent out late are not my fault. I want that to be clear. It was not my fault.' She then addressed her boss Julie directly, saying she hoped she took this feedback on-board, stating that 'since starting my biggest frustration was working with you'. 'I want that to be known because you have not given me the time to express that to you or give you any feedback until this moment,' she said. Karson was then reminded that this call was 'not about Julie', to which she responded that she understood that, but felt she wouldn't get a chance in the future to raise her concerns. She then ended the call by saying. 'It has been lovely working with you Kendall, I cannot say the same for you Julie. Have a great day.' Since sharing the video to TikTok last week, it has been viewed more than 2.3 million times and has gained more than 4400 comments. Many praised the employee for how she handled the situation and her professionalism. 'You did such a beautiful job standing up for yourself. Their answers were so vague,' one wrote. Another person branded her response 'epic' and another said it was 'extremely satisfying to watch'. Others were stunned by how unprepared the leadership team seemed to be when Karson asked simple questions, such as why she was being let go. 'Did they not expect you to ask why…?' one person said. 'Them sitting in silence like that was embarrassing when she asked questions,' another wrote, with one agreeing, saying 'the silence was crazy'. There were also HR professionals in the comment section who were horrified by how the situation was handled. 'I'm a person that unfortunately has to fire people and lay people off as part of my job. I have a full script and different things to say based off of different outcomes. I always tell them why, show empathy and let them know I never want to give the news,' one person said.
Entrepreneur
22-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
How Confirmation Bias Is Destroying Your Product
It's time to unlearn what you "know" about your users. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The most dangerous words in product development are: "Our users will love this." I've heard this declaration in countless product meetings, usually followed by months of engineering work and ending with the quiet disappointment of underwhelming user adoption. The culprit? Confirmation bias — our brain's maddening tendency to seek out information that supports what we already believe. As product managers, we're hired to make decisions. We analyze markets, gather requirements and prioritize features. The problem is, once we've developed a hypothesis about what users want, we start filtering all incoming information through that lens. Ambiguous feedback gets interpreted as supportive. Negative feedback gets labeled as "edge cases." And gradually, we construct an alternate reality where our product decisions are always brilliant. Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Confirmation Bias The user research theater "User research theater" refers to going through the motions of talking to users without actually being open to having your assumptions challenged. You might recognize these symptoms in your organization: Cherry-picking positive quotes from user sessions while ignoring negative patterns Asking leading questions designed to elicit specific answers Limiting your research to users who already love your product Interpreting silence or confusion as agreement Dismissing negative feedback as "they just don't get it yet" Look, I get it. You've already told your leaders and investors about the amazing feature roadmap. You've hired engineers based on certain technical assumptions. Your entire company narrative might be built around a particular vision of what users want. Changing course feels impossible. But staying on the doomed course is worse. Related: Do You Know What Your Customers Want? Are You Sure? Breaking the bias cycle So, how do we actually fix this? How do we create processes that challenge our cherished assumptions instead of reinforcing them? Here are some practical approaches I've seen work: 1. Separate data collection from interpretation One team I worked with adopted a practice where the people conducting user interviews weren't allowed to interpret the results. They could only document exactly what was said. A separate team — one without emotional investment in specific outcomes — would then analyze the transcripts. This reduced the tendency to hear what they wanted to hear during interviews. This separation creates a healthy tension. The interview team focuses on asking good questions rather than leading users toward predetermined conclusions. The analysis team spots patterns without being influenced by users' tone or the interpersonal dynamics of the interview. 2. Actively seek disconfirming evidence Make it someone's specific job to play devil's advocate during research planning. This person should be asking: "How might we disprove our hypothesis?" rather than "How can we validate our idea?" For example, instead of asking "Would you use this feature?" try "What would prevent you from using this feature?" The first question almost always gets a polite "yes." The second gives you actual obstacles you'll need to overcome. 3. Pay attention to behavior, not just opinions Users are notoriously bad at predicting their own future behavior. They'll enthusiastically tell you they'd definitely use your new feature, but when it launches, they stick with their old habits. I've found it much more valuable to observe what users actually do rather than what they say they'll do. This means analyzing usage data from existing features, creating prototype experiences where users can demonstrate preferences through actions, and conducting field studies where you watch users in their natural environment. 4. Create a culture that rewards changing course If your team gets punished for admitting they were wrong, guess what? They're going to double down on bad ideas rather than acknowledge the need to pivot. Smart companies build ceremonies that celebrate learning and adjustment. Some startups have done "Pivot Parties" — actual celebrations when the team made a major course correction based on user insights. They literally popped champagne when they killed features that research showed wouldn't succeed. This sent a powerful message: Learning is valued over stubborn persistence. 5. Diversify your research participants If you only talk to your most enthusiastic users, you're creating an echo chamber. Make sure your research includes: Prospective users who chose competitor products Former users who abandoned your product Current users who rarely engage with your product Users from different demographics and use cases This diversity helps expose blind spots in your understanding. Related: 3 Cognitive Pitfalls That Are Ruining Your Business — How to Unravel the Biases in Decision-Making The paradox of expertise Here's the painful truth: The more experienced you are in your domain, the more susceptible you become to confirmation bias. You've seen patterns before. You've developed intuition. Sometimes this is incredibly valuable. Other times, it makes you dangerously overconfident. The solution isn't to ignore your experience. It's to pair your hard-earned intuition with rigorous processes that test your assumptions. The best product leaders I know have strong convictions loosely held. They make bold bets based on their expertise, but they're quick to adjust when evidence contradicts their initial hypotheses. In the end, the market doesn't care about your brilliant vision or your elegant solution. It only cares if you've solved a real problem in a way that fits into users' lives. And the only way to know that for sure is to constantly challenge what you think you know about your users.
