Start Taking Ownership Over Your Feedback
For all Founders, there is a key opportunity for growth around us that we often overlook.
The opportunity is to create FEEDBACK LOOPS for ourselves.
But we have to be willing to take ownership, to be proactive about creating our own feedback loop.
Our peers and direct reports are always assessing and interpreting how we act and communicate. Yet how often do we ask for their feedback on what they experienced of us, especially when their experiences are fresh in their minds?
For most of us, the answer probably is “not enough”. Because many of us rely on the performance reviews that happen once or twice a year.
If we REALLY WANT to know whether our team members believe that we are communicating objectives clearly, running a meeting effectively, listening to others attentively, and so on, we need to ask them regularly.
Regularly means at least bi-weekly, sometimes weekly. Or, even immediately after an important or critical conversation. It means taking the responsibility to ask questions like:
“What is your feeling about how that meeting / conversation / presentation went and why? What do you feel I could have done differently or better?”
“Where do you feel there might have been confusion or tension in that situation and why?”
“What was said that I missed or did not fully acknowledge?”
But we don’t always think to do this. Why?
It’s natural to focus our attention on problem solving and getting updates on projects or goals, so we dedicate our meetings and conversations to those.
And perhaps underneath that, it can feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to ask for constructive feedback often. We might not like what we hear.
But being a leader means recognizing that within our existing relationships, there are gold mines of information available to us.
And we owe it to ourselves to proactively AND consistently seek out feedback, so we know how to better manage others and meet the situation at hand.
But perhaps most importantly, doing so is an act of modeling courage, transparency, and honesty for others as well.
Reflection Questions:
How often do I currently seek out feedback from my team?
What is stopping me from seeking out feedback regularly?
What do I really fear underneath that feedback?