❤️ Love it or 💔 hate it, feedback is the lifeblood of progress as a #MedicalWriter.
🧠 You’ve gotta remember though:
🔁 Feedback is a two-way street (not a ping-pong match!)
💡 The way you give and receive feedback (whether you are the writer or the client) helps you:
1. Build your relationship as you work together – it shows you are paying attention, and investing time to look at things in detail
2. Become a better writer – you carry forward the feedback you get from helpful clients, and you can apply this to future writing
3. Get better at giving feedback in future – you can suggest how people give you feedback in a way that is helpful for you as a client or a writer
😎 “Good” feedback makes you feel valued, helps you enjoy work, and encourages you to keep working on your craft as a writer.
🌟 Here are 4 ways I like to give feedback:
⚪ 1. Focus on their strengths.
Make them feel good about what they have done well, and encourage them to do more of that.
For example:
“I really like this sentence, it will really resonate with our audience”
“This analogy is perfect, it’s so easy to understand, well done for coming up with this”
⚪ 2. Acknowledge progress and what they have improved.
Notice that they have put in the effort to take on previous feedback, and are practising new techniques to improve the quality of their writing.
For example:
“I’ve noticed you’re using the words ‘which’ and ‘that’ in the right places now, well done for taking on board this feedback from last time!”
“Your sentences are much easier to read now, well done for cutting out those unnecessary words and getting straight to the point.”
⚪ 3. Suggest improvements, rather than reprimand them
Instead of telling someone they’ve “done it wrong”, suggest a way they could improve and justify your reasoning in a kind and respectful manner. Remember, writing is hard and getting feedback can be stressful. Please be gentle.
For example:
“I really like the idea you are expressing here, can I suggest an alternative way to present it that may be easier for our readers? Here’s what I suggest xxxx, because yyyy. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to working on this with you.”
⚪ 4. Do not make it personal if they make a mistake.
Avoid directly connecting the writer to their work, especially if they have made a mistake. Identify what is inaccurate, and why. State facts, and reference guidelines. Then offer a solution and reach a point of mutual understanding.
For example:
“This isn’t quite right. It should read xxxx, because yyyy. Shall we go through this together and create some guidelines on how we can get this right in future?”
#MedicalWriting #Copywriting #FeedbackMatters