Chapter 32
External Feedback
Construction Stage 4.5 Inventory and Change Recommendations
SAL Model Stage 4.5 External Feedback
YOU and I—and everyone else on the planet—also need FEEDBACK from others.
As human beings, we all have the same basic handicap of being stuck inside of our own minds, hearts, and souls. As a result of this handicap, we cannot observe ourselves from the same external vantage point of others, which limits our capacity for Self-Observation—no matter how careful, conscientious, and introspective we might be.
Bottom Line: WE ALL have blind spots.
Thus, we all need feedback from others to gauge how we are acting, performing, and coming across to others.
As a professional seminar facilitator, I regularly received written feedback from my audiences. This feedback empowered me to continually improve my presentations.
Most of the time, I am not surprised by the feedback I receive, because it harmonizes with and corroborates my own Self-Observations and Self-Examinations.
For example, once I was teaching a seminar in Utah where the high altitude, desert-mountain air was very dry. At the conclusion of the training day, one of the attendees wrote the following on my evaluation: "You sure lick your lips a lot."
That was the most memorable piece of feedback I ever received from a seminar attendee.
Why?
Because I had no idea I was doing it!
I was completely oblivious to my obviously distracting facial tic.
Thank goodness someone was willing to be candid and spill the beans to me on my evaluation!
I now carry lip balm with me when I travel to arid environments, and I keep it close by in my pocket or backpack when I am speaking, teaching, or facilitating. Thanks to lip balm and some helpful feedback that someone was courageous enough to share with me, I've been able to largely eradicate this distracting habit when I'm in front of an audience.
There are many ways to obtain feedback from family, friends, colleagues, and clients. From formal, 360-degree feedback questionnaires and written evaluations to face-to-face critiques in both group settings and one-on-one formats. However, if your supervisors and/or others are not proactive in ensuring you receive regular and timely feedback from others, you may need to take the initiative and seek it out on your own.
In other words, sometimes the best—and surest—way to obtain needed feedback is simply to ASK for it—point blank.
Doing so takes courage and proactivity, but that is okay because self-action leaders are inherently proactive and courageous human beings, so I know YOU have what it takes to go out on the limb to obtain needed feedback when necessary.
In the end, how you obtain feedback is less important than simply getting it.
So, seek it out however and whenever you need it!
What might your biggest "Blind Spot" be in your personal life? What about your professional life?
Solicit feedback from two or three select individuals with whom you live and work and ask them point-blank what your biggest "Blind Spot" is personally and professionally and how you might effectively address it.
Journal about the feedback you received. How did it make you feel to solicit pointed feedback from others? How did it make you feel to hear what they had to say about your "Blind Spots" personally and professionally? What did you do to positively and productively process your feelings in the matter?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 474th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 265th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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