Blog for Management & Consulting – August 2018
Authors: Sandra Boer and Robert Tordoir i.s.m. Emke Idema and Annefleur Schep

In a previous blog we wrote about the feedback method of DAS Theater, the master program for theatre makers and curators of the Amsterdam School of the Arts. In this method, giving feedback is a game with clear rules that force feedback providers to provide clear and precise feedback at a high speed, purely focused on content. A method that caught our attention and we wondered what organizations can learn from it. We spoke to Annefleur Schep, actress, theatre maker and performer about the meaning of this feedback method for her work.

The power of what is self-evident to you

Annefleur Schep: “The strength of this method is that it never becomes personal and the content is always central. The bundling of all knowledge, all perspectives and different perspectives ensures that your product becomes stronger. It does not matter if it concerns a play, like me, or a proposal you’re working on, a new product or a new service. Every time it is amazing how much the group has to offer. Through the feedback you see the power of what is obvious to you. Eventually you do many things unconsciously. It reinforces your idea, but also yourself, when you become aware of those unconscious qualities.

Perspective shift

For me, the feedback session is often the first step outside with my idea. This does not mean that my idea is already finished. On the contrary. But I know what I want to ask, I choose very consciously. You have your own perspective, but now you get the perspective of all those others. I use that to look again, to see new structures. But in the end it is my product. All feedback ensures that I sometimes make other, but above all, much more conscious choices and can articulate better why I make those choices.

Agile Feedback

The pace during the feedback sessions is high. That time limit seems to be a hindrance, but is very nice. It works well if there is not too much time to think. You work about 2.5 hours with a group of 12-15 people. They are entirely at your disposal with their time, their knowledge, background, ideas and opinions. So you get a lot of input. Afterwards your house is, as a matter of speech, a mess and you have to clean up first. Everyone deals with it in a different way. But I see amongst a lot of colleagues that it makes you more agile, more flexible. When I have the time, I take one comment per day that I reflect on and that I use. But when the deadline is approaching, I am speeding up and trying to get the core of all the feedback to sharpen my idea.

Team awareness

Perhaps one of the most impressive side effects is the impact the method has on the group. If everyone does this, is sometimes a feedback provider and sometimes a recipient, you create a place where people think with each other. You become much more aware of what everyone is doing, what people struggle with, what choices they make. You also know what someone needs. People start ‘feeding’ each other with films, links, fragments, articles and contacts that can help you further. It supports me to know what others are doing. There is something cool, something ‘wolfpack-like’. That you start to move more as a group, feel a certain pride, even in a place where people mainly work with their own creative process. ”

About this blog

In the art world, new methods, ideas and concepts are developed daily that can contribute to the innovation and change power of organizations. Sandra Boer and Robert Tordoir, founders of Art Partner, discover these – often hidden – gems and determine exactly which part of the artistic process is interesting for organizations. They post a monthly blog for the Dutch magazine Management & Consulting.

Image: De Beeldvormers