I don’t know about you but one of the things I’m delighted that I don’t have to go through any more now that I’m working for myself is the dreaded six monthly review of my business and personal development goals with my line manager. Now I’ve had some great line managers, in particular an American woman whom I respected and admired but I’ve also had some downright dreadful line managers. You know the ones I mean. Those that in your review feel they have to be negative about some element of your performance, forget the fact that you’ve worked your butt off for them because in their world feedback can’t all be positive! So clearly there is an advantage to working for yourself right? Hmmmm well maybe not. Getting constructive feedback, good or back, is invaluable and if you want to grow as a person, an entrepreneur and as a business owner then getting feedback is essential. So how do you go about getting that feedback without putting yourself through hell?
Be clear about what you want to get feedback on and then create a set of questions to get that information. In addition consider asking:
What has been working well?
What do I need to improve on?
What do I need to start doing?
What do I need to stop doing?
Human interaction is the best way to get feedback as you have the chance to question anything that is unclear, however, if this is not possible consider using an online survey to get the information.
The most obvious place to get feedback from is your existing clients. This can be quite tricky especially if you are the person extracting the information, so you may want to enlist the help of one of your fellow entrepreneurs to carry out the review on your behalf and offer to do the same for them.
If you have a coach that you’ve been working with for several months ask them to do your review and play casino give them the feedback you’ve obtained from your clients.
Don’t forget to include your family and friends in the feedback process – you need to be careful with this as emotions could run high, especially if you have been burning the midnight oil and they’ve hardly seen you, but your family and friends are a big part of your life and it’s important that they are included in the mix.
Once you have your feedback you then need to decide what do about it. It really doesn’t matter if you discover you have some flaws the important point is making sure they are not fatal flaws. A discussion with you coach at this point is invaluable; you want to be able to set clear goals and objectives as a result of the feedback so that you can address any issues raised both positive and negative and ensure your development plan is on track.
Once all the above is completed pour yourself a chilled glass of champagne and sip… slowly.
Have a great day everyone. Carole
