Spring(ish) Break!

The Feedback Loop has had a consistent goal for as long as I can remember: Produce new, quality content about feedback and reviews every week. It’s a lot of work, and the team has been doing an amazing job of providing that content for the Judge Program. I’ve been leading the team for about half a […]

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The 2018 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Showdown!

Back in December, at a Mid-Atlantic leadership conference, the topic at hand was “Reviews and Feedback Culture.” From there, it was decided that they would challenge the Northeast to a year long Review Showdown. The very next day, a representative issued the challenge to Io Hughto, RC of the Northeast at the NE Regional Conference. […]

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Things You May Want to Know About Reviews (Before You Write Your Next Review)

Quite often someone will bring me a concern they have about a review, something that is keeping them from submitting it and providing their feedback. For my first contribution to The Feedback Loop in 2018, I’ve decided that I want to take some time to address some misconceptions and drop some knowledge bombs to help […]

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Asking for Appreciation

When we discuss feedback in the judge program, usually we talk about coaching (communicating areas for improvement) or evaluation (providing context for how we view the capabilities of others by showing them where we think they rank). We also say asking for feedback, especially ahead of time, is useful in soliciting the type of feedback […]

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Dealing With Failures, Part Two

Olá a todos! (Hello, everyone!) In the first part, we got to learn a little bit more about failures: what they are, where they live, what they eat. Jokes aside, we spoke a bit about personal experiences and the impact it has on ourselves, our team, and ultimately our event and our customers – the […]

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Dealing With Failures, Part One

While very gratifying, the job of a judge isn’t always easy: along with hours of study and preparation, we also have numerous moments where we have to make difficult decisions during tournaments. As prepared as we may be, it’s difficult to anticipate every situation, and as a result, we make mistakes; mistakes that oftentimes cause […]

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The Value of Emotional Feedback

In a recent conversation about reviews, a friend gave two reasons why they hadn’t written any recently. “I don’t have any constructive criticism.” “I don’t know that I have anything valuable to say.” These two statements are pervasive within the judge program. They’re also false.   When we’re writing our first few reviews as new […]

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Mentoring

Mentoring. Mentor. Mentee. If you had to choose only one concept to pair with the judge program, most people would nod their head towards this one. From day one as a judge candidate to judges at highest levels of leadership in the program, it is everywhere. I came to judging from an educational background, so […]

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