Seeking learning feedback is the most meaningful thing you can do to find purpose and fulfillment at work. You need to discover your micro-motives; be open to opportunities and see them; develop strategies for you to build your talent stack to capitalize on the opening; and do not get too focused on the destination. Enjoy the journey. With learning feedback you will go to places you never dreamed were possible.
Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement. Feedback is a gift — a tool for growth! However, all too often we see it as a tool for discipline or to get one’s way. Develop the mindset where you look at all feedback as learning feedback.
Taking control of your own growth means taking control of your own feedback.”—Cameron Elliot
What Is Feedback?
The term feedback is often used to describe all kinds of comments made after the fact, including advice, praise, and evaluation. However, none of these are feedback, strictly speaking. Feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal. In many cases, you want input related to your talent stack — skills, knowledge, wisdom, behavioural DNA, and accomplishments.
Principles for asking for learning feedback
Asking for feedback takes courage. It requires you to become vulnerable. Sometimes to the point of trembling fear. However, it was worth it. It leads you to a more productive and open relationship, improved processes and deeper connections.
Take control of your growth means taking control of your feedback. So get out there and ask for it.
Develop a growth mindset – see learning feedback is an opportunity for growth
Ask for specific feedback, the more specific the ask, the more specific the feedback.
Be thankful when you receive feedback, you want the person to be able to give more input in the future
Learning feedback is a gift. People are trying to help you become achieve yor goals.
Take a well-rounded perspective; one person's opinion is only their opinion. Multiple views help you establish a pattern
Look for clues in peoples body language, sometimes it is what’s they are not saying that is important
Be objective – never let the first words out of your mouth be “oh, yeah, but…” This is not the time to justify actions
Learning Feedback
The key question is, does feedback help someone understand what they don’t know, what they do know, and where they go? That’s when and why feedback is so powerful, but a lot of feedback doesn’t—and doesn’t have any effect.” — John Hattie
When the information is available to be obtained, but you do not get it — either because you are not looking for it or because you are too busy performing to see it. Be present, and the feedback will present itself.
Whether or not you have asked for the feedback, it is offered by another person, or it is just “there” for you to grab, there are characteristics of learning feedback.
Learning feedback is,
- Goal-referenced — Goals and the criteria for them are implicit in everyday situations. You will take actions to achieve the goal. Get goal-related information fed back to you.
- Transparent and tangible — We use the information to either stay on the same course or adjust course. The more information “fed back” to you, the more you can self-regulate, and self-adjust as needed. It permits optimal self-regulation in a system with clear goals.
- Actionable — Learning feedback is actionable information. It is the data or facts that you can use to improve on your own since you likely missed something: no praise, no blame, no value judgment — helpful facts.
- User-friendly — Feedback is thus not of much value if you cannot understand it or are overwhelmed by it, even if it is accurate in the eyes of experts or the person offering it. Highly-technical feedback to a novice will seem odd, confusing, hard to decipher.
- Timely — Good feedback is “timely” rather than “immediate.” Figure out ways to ensure that you get more timely feedback and opportunities to use it while it is still fresh in your mind.
- Ongoing — Develop powerful learning feedback “loops”. It is an essential part of your learning system. Adjustments en route depend upon feedback. Seek multiple opportunities to use it. Your feedback loop needs to reflect and adapt to your changing ability to assimilate the input.
- Consistent — You can only monitor and adjust successfully if the information fed back to you is stable, unvarying in its accuracy, and trustworthy.
Everyone Likes to Offer Advice and Suggestions
Think of advisors in four categories:
- Platinum Advisor—People who have extracted some best practices and wisdom from patterns. They offer you shortcuts to the insights they have taken years to learn.
- Gold Advisor—People who have pattern-recognition skills. They recognize the project you are working on, or the problem you are trying to solve. They think you may be helped by connecting with a specific person or group or by listening to how it was previously addressed.
- Silver Advisor—People who have a set of contacts or insights that they are willing to share with you because they believe these might be useful to you.
- Bronze Advisor—People who offer advice and suggestions because it makes them feel important.
Remember, anyone who offers advice to help you should be a medal winner in your eyes.
You may wish to read a previous insight — How to Use Advice and Suggestions for Your Career Success.
Summing Up
People tend to focus on the content of advice. As advisors, we need to focus as much on how we advise as to what we recommend. It is a mistake to think of information as a one-time transaction. An active advising process is more than the dispensing and accepting of wisdom. Learning feedback needs to be a creative, collaborative process. It is a matter of striving, on both sides, to better understand problems and craft promising paths forward. This requires an ongoing conversation.
Assume the advice provider is not skilled in the process. However, recognize that their heart is in the right place. As the receiver, doing the above can start a constructive action. As the mentee, you are mentoring your mentor!
Advice and suggestions at work are not distractions that can be ignored. Understand the type of information and ideas you are getting (noise, contacts, patterns, insights). Understand why the advice is being given. Agree on the priority in following it up.
Not understanding how to respond to advice and suggestions can limit your career.
Advice helps you develop your insights. It leads to wisdom if you are open. It may provide you with a gateway for mentorship. So, always accept advice and suggestions as a gift, not a distraction.
Challenge — What's Right For You?
Solution = Leverage Your Talent Stack + Build Your Career Capital
Identify your unique behavioural strengths, build your career capital and leverage your unique talent stack for lifetime success.
- Grow your leadership potential by targeting your critical developmental needs
- Determine your crucial career success factors, allowing for more focused efforts
- Discover your best and most successful career direction
- Find out about your strengths and interests in different career areas
Knowing yourself is the first step to being happy. Moreover, staying happy is an ongoing process of regrounding your long-term goals with your current objectives. When those align, you’re on the path to a job you can adore. Know when to find a better job as your best option may be to fall in love with your job (again) We also offer a personal development plan to help you achieve career success and satisfaction.
