Giving and getting feedback is so important for the sales and professional growth process we forget how to give it and even less how to take it.
@Chep made a post a while back referencing the importance of leaders giving feedback and there is a small discussion there in regards to that. However, I want to take a little bigger dive into this. The link to the discussion is at the end of the post.
In regards to feedback make sure you're doing the following:
- Request feedback often.
- Build rapport with people from whom you want feedback. It's really important for you to build strong relationships with your peers that way you're comfortable when you're giving and receiving the opinions of others.
- When you begin to hear feedback, go into “listen and process” mode. NEVER take it personally.
- Always acknowledge the feedback you receive as valid (Even if you don't immediately see the value from it right away). If you think the feedback is misplaced, don’t be defensive or make excuses, or else the feedback will stop and no one wants that.
- Ask questions and try to learn more about why the person feels you did a bad or good job and where you need to improve. Asking questions doesn't mean you're being dismissive, it just makes you understand where they are coming from, their perspective is important, so listen.
- Be thankful to the people you get feedback from so they know it is appreciated and feel comfortable continuing to share their observations.
- Provide positive feedback, we all know how correcting the negative usually doesn't work. Positive reinforcement is a much better approach.
- When necessary, give hard feedback but always building on the positive.
In other words, make others around you feel valuable. Also having feedback sessions with your peers helps bunches! Especially if you have savages that are better than you from whom you can learn often.
I took some of these from Sales Development Cracking the Code of Outbound Sales by Cory Hilmon
Would love to hear from the rest of the WR what else you find important in giving and receiving feedback and what else you'd add to the list!
Here's the link for Chep's discussion if you want to add to it.
https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/the-best-way-to-give-receive-feedback
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