Dan Rockwell offered the following tips on receiving feedback from someone who sees something you don’t:
1. Aspire to improve.
Aspiration makes feedback desirable. “Tell me how to improve.”
2. Believe you’re able to improve.
Explore specific actions that create momentum when receiving feedback. “What suggestions do you have that would move the ball forward?”
3. Separate performance from self.
You are not your performance. It stings to hear, “Your meetings are boring,” but that’s what you do, not who you are.
4. Assume good intentions.
The person giving feedback is your friend, even if they’re rude.
5. Set aside your good intentions.
You didn’t wak up intending to screw up.
Whisper in your own ear, “Maybe I;’ll learn something.”
6. Seek specifics.
How much are you talking and how much are you listening? Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
7. Dom’t make excuses.
Sentences that begin with, “That’s because,” end with excuses.
