I’ve been noticing recently in my coaching conversations that a significant number of emerging leaders are not cognizant of the need and importance of giving and receiving feedback professionally, on a regular basis. That can lead to a lot of undesirable outcomes from underperformance to misunderstandings, burnout, and failure, among other things. I don’t want to leave that to chance, and you should not either.
Giving and seeking feedback is essential to a life well lived, and it’s just as critical for ensuring your career is oriented toward a growth mindset that leads you to predictable success. If you’re wondering why it is so important to be able to give feedback and receive feedback positively to set yourself up for success, read on…
Be Clear About Feedback
If you live on planet Earth for very long you’re going to find opportunities to provide feedback to others, especially if you are a parent, a manager, or a leader. Often we need to provide feedback to others as a part of an evaluation of a process or as an effort to coach someone to the best kinds of outcomes. Sometimes we can provide feedback to a person just to indicate our appreciation for their contributions and efforts.
In any case, when you’re giving feedback, it’s best to be clear about which of those objectives you’re trying to accomplish with your feedback. And, in any case, where you are the receiver of feedback, it is best if you’re clear about the reasons for the other person’s feedback to you. Are they providing you with a critique, are they trying to coach you, or just showing their gratitude for your contribution?
In any case, being clear about the reason for the feedback helps to ensure that it will be interpreted in a growth mindset, and avoid the temptation to feel attacked and become defensive. Those kinds of reactions are almost always a worst-case scenario. Whatever you do, be clear about why you’re giving feedback and what you hope to achieve, and be clear about why your colleague is giving you the type of feedback they’re giving you.
Be Balanced About Feedback
Stay committed to providing feedback, giving it to others willingly with the intent to help them to grow and develop from your feedback. Also remain committed to seeking feedback from others, asking them to give you insights into what you’re doing right and more importantly, what you can be improving upon. Don’t let your perception of the feedback you receive become distorted by letting yourself become defensive.
Just absorb the feedback and allow yourself to see the feedback as constructive and not destructive criticism or blame. Don’t let the conversation change in midstream, be on the lookout for “switch-tracking” where we start talking about something other than the real issue and get caught up in how the feedback makes us feel.
Turn Feedback Into Features
I was fortunate enough to work for a couple of great leaders many years ago who taught me that one of the smartest things we can do is to ask our customers or colleagues for feedback. While occasionally their feedback can be pretty painful to listen to, if you’re smart enough to listen, you will often learn how you can adjust your approach and turn that feedback into something that differentiates you in just the perfect way.
My mentors taught me to turn feedback into features and to listen closely to the direction of others, who want to see you succeed. If you ask for their input, and they give it, and you dare to implement their ideas, they will often lead you to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You must embrace feedback as an opportunity to take your game to the next level. Good people give feedback designed to help you to grow. To receive that feedback the right way, you need to ensure that you maintain a “growth mindset”.
Giving feedback is hard because we worry that our attempts to help someone else may be misinterpreted and may damage our relationship with them. Gathering up our courage to ask for feedback seems to be very difficult for many as well. We tell ourselves that asking for feedback about how we are doing is risky because our colleagues might tell us our work is not good enough. While that may be true, I believe that knowing how your work is perceived by others is incredibly helpful and important. This is especially true when we are talking about asking your manager for performance feedback.
Ask yourself this question. Would you rather go the whole year hoping your boss likes your work and your choices about what you’re prioritizing or would you rather know right now, even if it turns out you’re not meeting expectations? The value of asking now and knowing now where you stand is that you have ample time to make adjustments and to achieve enough accomplishments to rise above expectations. If you never ask, you never really know how you’re doing until It’s too late to recover.
Michael is an award-winning PBCA Executive Development Coach, Master Business Coach, and Business Advisor. Michael and his team of outstanding coaches work with fast growth Executives and Emerging Leaders from all over the world. You should look into aligning yourself with Michael Beach Coaching & Consulting and reach out to Michael at info@michaelbeachcoach.com today.
