Falling in love with feedback
“I love getting feedback…”
Who can honestly say this about themselves?
I certainly want to say this about me. I know that feedback is going to help me, but I don’t know that I love it. I don’t know that I’m all that great at seeking it.
What I do know is this: My ability to seek, receive and use feedback is correlated to the trajectory for success in my career.
This reminds me of a moment when I was in the thick of it as I transitioned from entrepreneur to employee.
Many things changed about my work.
Specifically:
- I was given a manager
- I was given a scorecard
- I was given performance reviews
- I was given a lot of feedback
A bit of a shock to the system when you’re used to working for yourself!
Early on in this transition I was tasked by my manager to proactively seek feedback from three key cross functional people in the organisation.
(Part of me wishes I figured out this for myself…but therein lies one of the benefits of having a great manager.)
Here are the questions that shaped those conversations:
- What’s one thing I do that you believe is helping to contribute to the success of our team?
- What’s one thing that I do that you believe is detracting from the success of our team?
- What’s something you’d like to see me doing better that you feel will contribute to the success of our team, and ultimately help me to become a more valuable team player?
So, here’s today’s challenge – take these questions, carefully select one key person that will provide you with valuable, direct and honest answers, and maybe you’ll start falling in love with getting feedback.