Even children playing the well-known “Hot or Cold” search game know that to perform well they need continual feedback.
Without knowing how you are doing, you are walking around blind. At best, you achieve accidental success. At worst, you can harm yourself.
Instead of waiting for feedback from other people, you can drive it yourself. If you want to improve results in your working or personal life, try to integrate some of these simple tips:
1. Review your past shortcomings and ask yourself some of these questions:
- What did I do well in that situation?
- What could I do better?
- What could I do more of?
- What could I do less of?
- What can I learn from this event?
- How can I make it better next time?
2. On a weekly basis, ask your spouse, children or those who you want to improve your relationships with:
- How would you rate our relationship in the past week from 1-10?
- If they say anything less than 10, follow this up with another question: What would have to happen so it would be 10?
- Make a commitment and take action based on suggestions you get.
3. Use the same questions for any area of your work and personal life that you want to improve. Ask your boss to rate your performance in the last month and to give you suggestions for improvement. Ask your audience to give you feedback on your presentation. Ask attendees of your meeting to give you feedback on the quality of your contribution at the meeting.
4. If you are in business, talk to clients who have previously rejected your product or service. What was the reason they didn’t buy from you? What prevented them from purchasing your product or service? While this exercise can sometimes be a real stretch from your comfort zone – and not appropriate for all industries – it is one of the simplest business building tools around.
5. If you want to be in a loving relationship and find that everyone you are with for a while leaves you, use the above principles and ask your “ex” for feedback. That is, if you dare and care!
6. When someone is “criticising” you, look beyond harsh words and facial expressions. Perhaps they do not use the most appropriate language (i.e. pressing your buttons!), they probably would not care to criticise you if they didn’t care about you. What positive message can you take from this? What can you learn so you can improve for the future?
7. If you care about growing your business, ask some of your most loyal customers these questions annually:
- Why did you become our customer in the first place? Why do you do business with us?
- What do you like most about our business?
- Are there any other products or services you would like to see us offer?
- If you could have anything you wanted from us, what would it be?
- What do you like least about our business?
8. And finally, if you want to make a profound change in any area of your life quicker than you thought was possible, give yourself honest feedback! Ask yourself:
- How did I allow (or am allowing) this to happen?
- What am I doing that is working?
- What am I doing that is not working?
- What do I need to be doing more of in order to succeed?
- What do I need to be doing less of?
Assuming one hundred percent responsibility for our future comes with willingness to accept our shortcomings, learn from them and move on. And it doesn’t matter how many times you get feedback, or how harsh a pill it is to swallow sometimes. It doesn’t matter how many times you find yourself off course in relation to what you want. If you only diligently keep asking for feedback and act upon it, you will eventually end up exactly where you want to be. As Boris Becker once said: “Feedback is the breakfast of all champions.”
As a participant on the world’s most highly developed and effective Business Leadership Programmes, Workpraxis will encourage you to critically examine your current mindset and biases and transform your view of yourself as a leader, thinker and strategist.
