Yet so often feedback conversations can prompt feelings of anxiety, fear, and frustration (on both sides), and erode trust and communication within managerial relationships. In this interactive session with a former teacher turned software engineer, participants will discover strategies for offering feedback in a way that opens up communication, makes space for vulnerability, and helps the recipient not only receive but also absorb and meaningfully incorporate the feedback. 

Drawing from learning science and best practices in teaching, as well as my unique perspective at the crossroads of education, professional development, and engineering, I will share techniques for effective feedback that range from narrowing and defining the scope of your feedback, to understanding your audience and meeting them where they are, to returning to, building upon, and recognizing progress made on past feedback. Through interactive activities audience members will experience and internalize key learning science concepts, such as the zone of proximal development and the role of working memory, and apply those concepts toward optimizing their approach to feedback. Attendees will leave feeling empowered to make their next feedback conversation more effective, human-centric, and growth-oriented.