Last night, our Parish School Board had a meeting with a group of parents. There was good discussion throughout the hour we were together. After this meeting , the Board continued their meeting in private.
Asking for each person to comment on what they heard was very interesting. For the nine of us that were together everyone had a little different interpretation of what they heard. Things said, were important to some and not to others. Subtleties of tone or pattern recognition of themes became clearer, as we listened to each other express what they felt given what they heard.
It reminded me, again, of how imperfect we are and how helpful it can be to go through this exercise with others. I learned a lot when everyone shared what they heard. It made everyone’s understanding much, much more complete giving us the opportunity to subsequently decide things that were more aligned with our constituency.
Feedback is important. But having others interpret what they heard in the same feedback, together with what you thought you heard, can be very powerful in completing your understanding of what was said before deciding on your next steps.