Feedback is one way to see ourselves through the eyes of a neutral person so we may look at areas in our lives needing improvement. Feedback can be a fast and effective reality check, and it can help us refocus our efforts and put us back on track so we may achieve our goals. It is best to initiate the process of asking for feedback and making sure you are willing to accept honest and thoughtful comments as constructive criticism and an opportunity for professional development. Feedback from your internship supervisor is valuable but also feedback from colleagues can be as well. Peer feedback can be easier to process because of your relationship with them, but you want a balanced evaluation of you and your work. If you want feedback in a specific area of your work, you need to create a list of questions so the responses are accurate. Prepare a set of questions ahead of time, as this will make your evaluator’s job easier and more likely to be more accurate.

Mentors, Role Models, and Accountability Partners

As you develop your professional role, it is important to identify other professionals or colleagues who can provide support and guidance. Mentors, role models, and accountability partners can each serve a role in your professional development.

Mentors are essential to the success of interns as they are introduced to the field or their internship. The mentoring relationship affords important experiences, including improved job performance, recognition by others, personal fulfillment, and increased job satisfaction and commitment. The mentor can impart life-altering experiences fostering professional maturity.

Mentors tend to be senior professionals who encourage and support the younger interns in their transition from student to practitioner and also in professional development. A unique aspect of the mentor-intern relationship that differs from other personal relationships is the focus on career development and growth. The “role model” helps the intern primarily by serving as an example and facilitating professional identity development. Role modeling is less formal than mentoring, although both teach responsibilities and expectations of their professions, role models are more of people who embody ideal behaviors, whereas the mentor is actually teaching or guiding directly.

Often internships will include the establishment of a “buddy system” or “accountability partners.” The role of the accountability partner is similar to that used by recovery support groups in that the person in recovery is assigned a sponsor who is there to ensure that the person in recovery does not fall back into old habits. Ideally, an accountability partner should be someone who makes interns comfortable enough to share their confidences with them. The accountability partner encourages the interns to continue in their progress and help in areas where progress is lacking. Accountability peers are dedicated to keeping the interns on track. They also do not judge when interns do not live up to the standards or relapse into old habits. Accountability partners promote, coach, and sometimes offer a shoulder to cry on. Ideally, the accountability partner is a fellow intern whose mature judgment is known and trusted.

Accepting Positive Feedback

Receiving feedback is good, whether positive or negative, because both help us improve ourselves. We can use this feedback to recognize our strengths and discover areas to work on. Studies have shown that we are more likely to request corrective feedback than positive feedback and that positive feedback is often downplayed or ignored by recipients (Simonian, 2022).

Positive feedback can help people be more engaged, drive their performance, and achieve success. Positive feedback focuses on our strengths, the contributions we make to the workplace, and how valuable of an employee we are. Acknowledgment and praise for specific behaviors are rewards that help us know we are on the right track. Positive feedback builds trust and employee morale, motivates and engages, lowers turnover rates, and keeps employees happier.

Practice accepting positive feedback without downplaying it or suggesting why you don’t deserve it. A simple response of “Thank you” is often enough, or even “I appreciate your feedback.”

Accepting negative feedback

So your feedback was not what you expected, and now you are upset? The good news is that the feedback is not about you as a person but as you, the employee. Negative feedback is about specific standards that define your work and how you performed these standards in a less-than-optimal manner. By learning to accept gracefully negative feedback, we can strengthen our self-esteem and work on eliminating or lessening our weak areas.

When you are given your feedback, ask for clarification and use clarifying questions. The intern needs to know what was found to be negative and how is that behavior to be changed. Also, make sure you understand the evaluator’s true intent. If you receive negative feedback, follow these five steps to help you get control of the situation and feel more empowered:

1. Recognize that negative feedback is not an attack.
2. Ask for regular feedback.
3. Give yourself time to process your emotions.
4. See the feedback from the evaluator’s perspective.
5. Handle constructive or destructive feedback accordingly.

Seeking Feedback Licenses and Attributions

“Seeking Feedback” by Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi PhD is licensed under CC BY 4.0.