A Feedback System for Getting Better at Your Job

Part of my job is to constantly get better at my job. One way I try and get better at my job is to ask the people I work with for feedback. 

I’m constantly surprised by what I learn. It's so easy to have blind spots. It's hard to know how we're coming across to others. 

Day to day work could be much improved if we could make adjustments. Like a golfer getting feedback when they hit a putt and miss, I want to know how I'm coming across. Otherwise, its like I'm hitting a putt and I'm not sure if it went into the hole or not. How do I know what to adjust?

The difficulty with feedback at work is the lack of incentive to give candid feedback. Does it benefit me to give you feedback? Does it benefit you to give me feedback? It rarely does. It takes a caring leader to give feedback to help someone improve. Its a courageous direct report to tell their boss something candid.

I've had to fight the natural defense mechanism that comes when someone gives me feedback. I want to fight back and justify myself. 

That defensiveness is wrong. Candid feedback is gold! How else am I supposed to get better at my job? Candid feedback shortens the improvement loop.

Not all feedback is created equal. Some feedback is vague and unhelpful. Some feedback can be wrong. An executive coach taught me to create a collaboration in the feedback system. It takes more than one person to work together. When I give someone feedback it says something about me as much as it does about them.

When I ask for feedback I invite the person giving feedback to be apart of the process. I ask the feedback giver for something they can do help me with the feedback. 

All feedback should be respected. I've found it best to simply say "thank you for the feedback." I'm not judging the feedback. I'm grateful for it. I put it in the database of feedback I've received and weigh it relative to other data points.

Here is my specific process: 

• Once a quarter send out a survey to those I work closely with. I lean more vs less on who I send it to because more feedback is better than less.

• Update the questions each quarter to make them more helpful but I do try to keep some standard ones. I'm looking for changes over time as much as I'm looking for feedback for the current quarter.

• Read every thing that comes in. I sit with it. I think about it. I'm grateful for it.

• Ask for clarification if it's not clear what someone is saying. Be careful at this step not to be defensive. I'm just looking for clarity not to justify my own position.

• Articulate 2-4 themes to focus on for the next quarter based on the feedback. I can't do everything that people suggest. That would be impossible. I can choose a few themes to focus on.

• Send the themes to each individual that gave me feedback to close the loop on the feedback process.

• Ask them for one specific thing they can do to help me this quarter. The more specific the better to invite them to be a collaborator with me.

• If needed, meet with someone who gave me feedback and ask for more color. This is often a great way to build a stronger relationship with someone. 

I don’t rely on my company to run a process for me. I want to take ownership over the process because I care a lot about my performance. 

#HappyLearning