Kindly Review

23Making Kind Review Work for You

Remember those pesky feedback styles? How do they react in the Two‐Round Review process? Probably not very well.

Even with a perfect process, feedback styles will rear their ugly heads, dropping bombs on it all. So how can a creator steer the process of finalization with kindness? It's about harnessing feedback styles.

Humans are remarkably predictable once you see their patterns. One of my most beloved Kind Collaborators gets very excited and relatively critical starting in October and ending in January every year. In October, she's beginning her very intense fundraising season. She needs to raise half her budget in three months through individual donations. It's a lot of work. She leans into our team at BC/DC Ideas to assist with online fundraising. She uses a talented direct mail company but raises over 50% of her goal by herself. This stress overflows into our relationship as heightened control of details and rare unkind feedback. I take this season in stride because it comes like clockwork. I step up my attention to detail. We ride this stress wave together. But I don't react because I know it's coming. Once I saw the pattern, I could accept that this, too, shall pass.

Using your reviewer's feedback style as an element of strength to forge a better idea is key. Remember that people can improve their feedback style by becoming more kind, but the toxic traits still linger when they get stressed. It's only human.

Path to Completion for ...