How To Be Empowered By Feedback

26 July

How To Be Empowered By Feedback

Paula Morand | confidence, leadership, motivation | No comment

Feedback has no value unless it leads to improvement. It is a critical part of your journey to owning your awesome.

Much has been written about the value of feedback, but to me it has absolutely no value at all unless it leads to improvement.

Too often companies and individual say “we welcome your feedback” when what they really want is to hush you if you are unhappy or otherwise ignore you. There is little formal process in place to go over feedback, to weed out what is routine and what is insightful, and to build from it.

When you decide to go on your journey to awesome, you will find that the road is paved with improvement, so you really must create a system where you gather and act on the feedback you receive.

Awesome is not a final destination. Instead it is a milestone on a lifestyle that champions continual improvement.

But lifestyles are like any living and growing thing. They need to be fed and fertilized and nurtured to grow, and that is the role of feedback.

Within most corporations there are established protocols for the giving of effective and timely feedback, both informal and the more formal performance review process. Employees who know what they are doing right and what needs improvement will grow faster and gain more skills.

But when you are an entrepreneur or self-employed, it is much more difficult to harness effective feedback and bring it home for a good assessment.

There are various methods of receiving feedback. Some are gentle and tactful and some are spontaneous and harsh. Both have value.

Even self-feedback can work when it comes in the form of honest assessments of where you are now and where you need to be at the finish line.

If you do not have a team or a public to give you feedback, you must set up an internal measurement system that allows for frequent and automatic feedback. It could become a work process, such as a production schedule that clearly stipulates how much needs to be accomplished each week.

If you receive the feedback from your measuring system that you are falling behind, you can immediately take corrective steps to get back on schedule.

Either way, good feedback is essential to operating your business effectively. It helps define your intent to your team and ensure that everyone has clarity about what needs to be done next.

The next time you ask for feedback, listen with your mind wide open. It will keep you from working blind and in the process, it will steer you back on track if you have been veering off course.

If it is hurtful or unforgiving, still listen to it and consider if despite the harshness, it might be accurate. Try to remove your personal heart from the project and analyze if what you are hearing is what you need to know.

If it is, face the music and get your project back on track.

On the other hand, if you suspect the motives of the person offering the feedback as unkind and their point of view invalid, don’t let it destroy you. Still try to consider the feedback, and if it makes no sense at all, perhaps it is time to consider the source.

Paula Morand, CSP is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and bold impact. 23 years, 25,000+ clients, 34 countries, 11 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.