What Information Do You Need in Order to Change?

If you want good feedback:

• Be open to listening to the things you might not want to hear.
• Explain that you want to identify your blind spots so that you can improve.
• Be gracious with the results, even if they're unpleasant.

Some professions come with feedback. Writers have editors, athletes have coaches. If you need more feedback, consider hiring a coach as everyone can do with some improvement.

Some feedback is just noise. Feedback is based on observation and reactions to your specific actions.

• Feedback does not try to tell you what you should be doing. It tries to enlarge your perspective on what you are doing.
• Opinions are just someone telling you how they feel about things. It may have nothing to do with you in particular.

Great feedback isn't about convincing others to do things your way - it is about giving them insight on how to improve on their own methods.

Giving feedback requires an awareness of what you're saying and how you say it.

• Make the feedback personal. Give specific examples.
• Reassure the person you are trying to help them improve on themselves.
• Be aware of your tone. You are a team member, not an accuser.
• Choose your timing wisely. The end of a busy workday is often not a good time for feedback.