This paper discusses the impact and value of feedback that was personable and individually tailored in a postgraduate staff development program that taught supervision skills at an Australian university. The modelling of this feedback style resulted in high student satisfaction. The students were all academic staff who reported transferring that style of feedback into their own teaching practices. They also indicated a desire to bring that feedback style into their supervisory practices as a strategy to promote engagement, retention and more rewarding supervisor-student relationships. The feedback style was seen as precursor to a more effective and rewarding academic relationship that would have ongoing impact on future collegial research and teaching connections.