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Discussion on: Effectively Receiving Feedback

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jnschrag profile image
Jacque Schrag

This is great advice, and I love that you approached the topic of feedback from the perspective of the receiver.

I was confused by this part, however:

I understand that you interpreted X this way, and I am sorry for that.

In my experience, that kind of phrasing is actually poor for an apology because it's a non-apology. You (the person apologizing) aren't actually owning anything, but rather apologizing that the other person did something wrong (interpreted X incorrectly). Maybe a better approach would be something like,

I understand that you interpreted X this way, and I am sorry that I was not clear. My intention was X.

Obviously in a good relationship with coworkers, I think either phrasing will be fine, but just wanted to mention it for situations where maybe that relationship isn't so good/you can't assume best intentions.

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silvestricodes profile image
Jonathan Silvestri

This is a better phrasing. I will update the post with it and credit you.