Feedback: Take It or Leave It ... But Get It
The expense was substantial. An immersion workshop with twelve participants sharing a common goal to hone their skills. With nervous eagerness like kindergarteners embracing school, we received input, critique, and suggestions about our work. Some of the feedback I used. Some of it I didn't. But all of it was helpful. I haven't always viewed feedback that way. At times in my career, I've taken it more like a personal indictment than a helpful gauge; an intruder I needed to defend against, rather than input I needed to evaluate. I've even found myself akin to a workshop colleague who said he wanted input, but when he got responses different from what he expected, he argued and debated and explained. What he wanted was praise or input he agreed with, not honest reactions. You see it's not enough to ask for feedback. You have to be open to receive it. After three days of our colleague's defensiveness, any willingness to offer anything but cursory input was stomped out. His argumentative actions lost him an opportunity for connection with fresh voices and new input. And we lost an opportunity to practice giving helpful feedback with authentic insights and thoughtful reflection. I learned a painful lesson about seeking feedback in my first management position. Given a large assignment, I was proud of what I produced, certain it would be received as an outstanding product. Instead I discovered my work was mediocre at best and significantly flawed because I failed to seek feedback and assessment from the end users along the way. Relying only on my own thoughts and perceptions was a big mistake. Over the years in the corporate world, I learned to view feedback as data. The more data I got, the more information I had to improve what I was working on. Realizing I was in charge of how I used that feedback data, I learned to seek it. Feedback is opinion; not fact. It's something to evaluate; not blindly accept. But, I find when several people have the same perception, it's good to listen. When I get insights I hadn't thought about, it's good to consider them. When input is mixed, it's good to follow my instincts. But when people provide feedback with a hatchet, finding only fault rather than offering ideas for improvement, it's good to look at it with distant curiosity. Bottom line: if you want to be winning at working you must learn to seek and offer well-intentioned feedback. I think of it like the Sicilian proverb: "Only your real friends will tell you your face is dirty." Let input, suggestions, and feedback be real friends at work. (c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved. Sign up to receive Nan's free biweekly eColumn at http://www.winningatworking.com. Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. She has held leadership positions in Human Resource Development, Communication, Marketing and line Management. Nan has a B.A. from Stanford University and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Currently working on her first book, Winning at Working: 10 Lessons Shared, Nan is a writer, columnist, small business owner, and on-line instructor. Visit http://www.nanrussell.com or contact Nan at info@nanrussell.com | | | | RELATED ARTICLES Free Resume Examples: Use Them, But Dont There are lots of free resume examples (or free resume samples) on the web. Avoid Mistakes and Gaffes in Your Job Resume Having mistakes and gaffes in your job resume spell disaster for your job search. The last thing an employer needs is to look at a poorly written resume. The employer is looking at possibly dozens of resumes a day, and if yours is not up to par, don't expect to hear from him/her. Make Your Resume Keyword Rich and Scanner Friendly If you haven't looked for a job recently, there are new tactics that hiring professionals are using that you should be aware of before updating your resume. Mystery Shopping Mystery shopping is an excellent way to make extra money. In fact, some people make a full time living doing it. 3 Ways To Succeed On Your First Job (Or Any Job) You've heard the real estate cliché: the three factors that determine a property's value are location, location, location. How To Survive A Job Loss Has this ever happened to you: You have been working at a particular job for a few years. It's not the greatest job and it hasn't always allowed you to capitalize on your unique gifts or talents. But it's ok, and it pays the bills. The job has become a part of your life's routine. Ask Me No Questions, Ill Tell You No Lies If only there were no questions involved in getting a job! Why Use a Resume Writer or Resume-writing Service? Here are some of the questions we have been asked by our clients or potential clients in the past, together with our answers to them. We hope you find them useful, and that they help you to make an informed decision. Children At Work: Looking at Child Labor in the Victorian Age Today, it isn't that uncommon for some children and teenagers to work. They may earn extra money by baby-sitting, doing yard work, or maybe even walking dogs. Others, once they go on to high school, may go to work in their local grocery store, malls, or food chains. However, in the Victorian Age, it wouldn't seem at all strange to see children as young as five or six, go to work full-time (sometimes sixteen hours a day!) in often dangerous conditions. Ten Tips to a Job Winning Interview These days, interviews don't come easily. When you get The Call, make the most of your time -- and go for it! Women Who Quit Work Abrubtly After Childbirth - Are You the Type? According to statistics one out of every five pregnant women will not return to work. Quitting abruptly after childbirth could wreak havoc on your finances, your career and even your relationship with your partner. Bringing Our Family to Work Let's face it, most of us consider professional success and personal success the same. Job Trap; Relationships with Co-workers Most of us interact with our co-workers on a daily basis, its what helps us get through the day. Most employers go to great lengths to promote the "team", some thousands of dollars on retreats and seminars and the like. Basically, to them a group of cooperative, resourceful employees all working together is as valued as good advertising. And no wonder, without it their business would fare well. Picture a workplace populated only by the characters of the show "Family Guy". How succsessful do you think this business would be? Applying for a Job in Another Country? International Resumes Is an International Resume still a Resume? This is a very common question among those looking for work overseas for the first time. When you contact companies about applying for a job with them you will not often be asked for a resume, you will be asked to send along your CV. I remember the first time I was asked for my CV, I had no idea what they wanted and I couldn't seem to be able to find out, no one I knew, knew what at CV was either. Thank goodness there is the Internet now where information is easy to find! A CV is basically an international resume. CV (Curriculum Vitae) or international resume will differ from your regular run of the mill resume that you are used to writing. For example each country has different guidelines that they like to work within. Finding out these guidelines will take you much further in your international job hunt. Reinventing Yourself for Multiple Careers In many countries around the globe, people are born into their station in life and hence their professions. It is unnecessary for them to plan a career as they are expected to perform one specific job their entire lives. These cultures do not consider personal growth or the possibility of choosing one's profession. How To Stay Calm in Tryng Times That's not you? Great! Bad habits are hard to break once the addiction gets hold of us. Been there. Gave up "smokes" long years ago but it took lots of willpower to kick the habit. Does Your Resume Lack Vision? You're just getting over the shock of having become unemployed. You know you need to begin a job search, but you may not know the best way to proceed, or where to start. Do You Have the courage to ignore the experts? Do you have the courage to ignore the experts? Do you have the willingness and ability to understand and use the power that is within you? Courage is that state of mind when you do something that you know is right for you and your loved ones and the rest of the world thinks you're mad. The ability to make the decision and then make it happen. Courage is not progressing through life with gay abandon, ignoring all the fears. Quite the contrary. Courage is an understanding of fear. An understanding of what to fear and what not to fear. Courage is the ability to challenge what is deemed to be common sense. Career Transitions: Creating Complementary Careers in a Day Down-sized? Outsourced? Burned-out? Wizened up? That's what I said. Wizened up! Now is not the time to be depressed. Now, is the perfect time to assess your life and what you want to do with the rest of it. One easy way is to explore career options that are complementary to you. Whether you are leaving by choice or have been asked to leave, you probably have more courses of action then you think. Surviving Office Politics It's your first month in a new position and it's rougher going than you'd anticipated. You feel like an outsider and you're miserable.
|