Dr. Rakish Rana (The Clear Coach) is a life coach who challenges, encourages and supports clients to find direction, happiness and purpose.
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Recently, I was invited to a gathering where I had the chance to speak in front of a crowd. I've done speeches and presentations several times over the years, in front of various group sizes, and I've never really been scared about them (although perhaps early in my career I was). But lately, I've begun to consider how I'm impacting an audience and whether I'm adding any value. I notice attentive eyes on me, engagement, laughter at the appropriate times and a variety of questions throughout—all very positive feedback—but what about the way I really come across when I speak?
As a result, I now seek comments after my presentation with the goal of improving myself so that I can offer more value in the future. I ask questions like: "How did you feel about that?" "How did I come across?" "What might have been done better?" "What could I do differently next time?" But I have also discovered that many individuals find it difficult to give constructive criticism or, more essential, to ask for it in order to improve themselves. And as Bill Gates says, “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
Throughout my career, I've frequently employed the variant of the Deming Cycle, a four-step iterative business methodology that goes Plan > Do > Check > Act, to improve goods and processes continuously. Examining actual results in comparison to expectations is required at the "Check" step, which is essentially feedback. What are the feedback mechanisms to determine if you are accomplishing what you had hoped for if you apply this idea to your own personal growth, where you plan an activity and carry it out? How do you monitor your own progress? It can be landing the new job you wanted, creating the new professional contacts you wanted or discovering how to handle a challenging circumstance at work.
Most of the time, your gut instinct or intuition can tell you that what you are doing is proper. Many major firms utilize 360-degree assessments to get feedback on their employees, including the ability to comprehend the employee's growth requirements and, in the case of strong employees, to highlight their existing capabilities.
Feedback can take many forms, ranging from formal to informal, with a spectrum in between. So how do you get feedback on yourself to identify your strengths and places for improvement?
• Face-to-face: Although this is my favorite option, it is possible that if the individual is not well known to you, they will want to be courteous and cautious when offering criticism. However, I believe this is a chance for you to get to know each other better right then and there and to ask for frank comments. You will, in my opinion, get a sincere response if your request is sincere.
• Email: Asking someone for their opinion in a private email might be helpful. This approach may enable the individual to avoid feeling "put on the spot" and give them time to thoroughly consider their response. Additionally, it offers you the chance to ask a number of questions that you would not feel comfortable asking in person when requesting feedback.
• Feedback form: This technique enables anonymous input. This is often used for gathering data from a bigger number of individuals at once, but it may also be utilized if you feel awkward asking for comments in person or via email. The individual might be able to give more candid comments as a result.
Some feedback may be insubstantial or unsupported: "That was great!" or "That was awful!" Therefore, whatever decision you choose, be sure to do the following:
• Request frank criticism or positive feedback; you want people to be useful, not polite.
• As opposed to asking what went wrong, ask what could be done more effectively in the future.
Simply acknowledge the input and thank the individual without passing judgment. And lastly, after receiving criticism, make sure you act on it!
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