Towards a constructive and open feedback culture

19 June 2025 News item

When Evelyn Kroesbergen asked Linda Kwakkenbos, Linda Drijvers, and Ashwin Rambaran to brainstorm about how to stimulate a constructive and open feedback structure at the faculty, ideas started flowing. From a factsheet to feedback bingo: during the feedback week (16-20 June)we want to make the conversation about feedback accessible. Linda, Linda, and Ashwin discuss that giving and receiving feedback is not always easy, but that it is absolutely useful.

Why has feedback week been organised at FSW?

Feedback week came into existence as a result of a request from the faculty board to direct more attention towards feedback. The idea is to discuss with one another how and why we give feedback in the workspace. Giving and receiving feedback can be exciting and difficult at the same time, which might be a reason not to do it. However, feedback, if given and received in a good way, can be of incredible value to both you, your work, and the faculty.

What are the first steps you can take in giving feedback at work in a positive manner?

A good first step is talking to each other and being open to feedback. Do you want to start immediately? You can fill out the feedback bingo and you might even win a fun Radboud prize.

You can also ask explicitly for feedback. This lowers the threshold for the other person to actually give feedback. It doesn’t have to be an official feedback form, but it can also be smaller and more informal. By including others and asking simple questions such as “Do you have any comments or suggestions for improvement?”, you give the other space to provide feedback.

If we can level with one another more easily, this contributes to a positive working climate for everyone. Those in higher functions need to be aware of the struggles that other employees have regarding providing feedback, as a result of cultural differences, distances, and dependency. We hope to diminish the distance between colleagues and the different layers within the faculty by working on a good feedback culture within our faculty.

Linda Drijvers, Evelyn Kroesbergen en Linda Kwakkerbos tijdens de week van de feedback

If you want to take the next step, what is something to pay attention to when giving each other feedback?

The feedback principle presented by Hattie and Timperley can be helpful: feedup, feedback, feedforward. What is the goal of your feedback and what do you want to achieve with it? Give feedback on the current situation and then look at what could be changed next time. It’s good to think about what topic you want to discuss in your feedback. This requires practice both from the recipient and the giver of feedback. Feedback doesn’t have to be big. Even the small, pointed remarks can be useful.

Also dare to ask feedback from those outside of your immediate circle. Someone with a bit more distance to you might provide an interesting perspective and their feedback can lead you to new insights.

Be constructive regarding the content and don’t forget the positive feedback!

This week we draw attention to giving feedback, how we can anchor a good feedback culture within our organisation.

The feedback week is a small, first step to talk about feedback with one another and to think about it functions within your team, department, and the faculty. Supervisors and directors must lead by example. They can lower thresholds by actively and openly engaging with feedback. The bingo is therefore a good way to start the conversation.

We want to have feedback return frequently as a topic by organising small activities. That is why we are working on developing an compliments carrousel. Furthermore, feedback is an integral part of the leadership courses at Radboud University and for instance some modules in GroW.

We realise that giving and receiving feedback is something that requires effort and not something that comes naturally. We hope that this week is a first step towards an open and constructive feedback culture and that the specific activities can contribute to this.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Send an email to communicatie.fsw [at] ru.nl (communicatie[dot]fsw[at]ru[dot]nl). Feedback is always welcome 😊

week-van-de-feedback-feedback-bingo.pdf

pdf 50.24 KB

Contact information

Organizational unit: Faculty of Social Sciences
About person: Dr J.A. Rambaran (Ashwin) , Dr C.M.C. Kwakkenbos (Linda) , Dr L. Drijvers (Linda)