Feedback is an essential factor in career progress. Negative or positive, feedback shows you the path where you should be leading and areas where you can grow. Everybody loves receiving positive feedback, especially at work. However, you need to come across negative feedback & criticisms at times.
It is very important to embrace any type of feedback if you are to grow & prosper in your career. Apart from regular performance appraisals, how can you get productive feedback at work?
Seek for Honest People
While asking for feedback, everyone will try to provide positive ones regardless of how many flaws or weaknesses you have. So, for the first step, it is very important to identify honest people who will feel comfortable in providing both positive as well as negative feedback.
It would be best to choose someone who works closely with you and is familiar with your strengths and weaknesses, and is willing to provide you honest opinion.
Be Specific
Make a list of questions you would like to ask in order to receive feedback about yourself. Consider the areas that you think you could do better in. Draft questions that require specific answers rather than just yes or no.
Select a Venue
Venue or the environment where you’ll be taking to the person plays a major role in the answer you receive. The way a person acts, thinks and behaves is greatly influenced by the environment he is in. You can get different answers in different situation. For example, the answers you get while asking for feedback at workplace can be different from the answers received while asking for feedback in a restaurant.
So think about a place where the person will feel comfortable while providing feedback. The more comfortable the person feels, the more genuine will be the answer.
Wait for the Right
Time
Don’t hurry and rush to the person for feedback. Identify if the person is busy or even better, schedule for a meeting to pick a time suitable for both of you. It is always best to wait for the right time than hurry.
Prepare yourself for the response
Don’t expect that you’ll get only positive response. Prepare yourself for both negative and positive comments. Keep in mind that feedback is the way through which you can prepare yourself for self improvement and career development. This way you can handle negative comments in a positive manner.
Getting feedback at regular intervals is healthy for your professional as well as personal development. What matters most is who you choose for receiving your feedback.
If you have ever received any kind of feedback at work, please feel free to share it in the comment section below.
