The past few posts have been centered on giving effective feedback. Today I’d like to focus on how to ask for and receive feedback. Giving feedback that works is an art and it takes practice, patience, and probably more then a few tries to get right. I would argue the same is true for receiving feedback.

As an advocate of continual improvement in my personal and professional life I have always asked people for feedback on my performance (both as an employee and supervisor). I ask what they think has gone well and what they think could be improved upon. A concept that is especially effective in soliciting this feedback is “Start. Stop. Continue.”

For instance, I may say to someone who reports to me, “What is something that I am not doing for you now, that would be helpful to you that I can start doing?” You may be surprised at what you hear. It can be anything from removing organizational barriers to adjusting a work schedule. Next, “What is something that I am doing that is not helpful to you that you would like me to stop doing?” One manager I know used this technique and found out that it drove his employee crazy when he poked his head out of his office door and called for the employee. The employee said that he felt demeaned. This is something the manager would have never known if he wouldn’t have specifically used this technique and it is something that he easily fixed. Lastly, “What is something that I’m doing that you would like me to continue to do?” Who knows what you will hear with this. The bottom line is that you aren’t going to know unless you ask.

One caveat. Employees aren’t stupid. If you ask them a question that you, in your heart, may believe you want the answer to but end up getting defensive, counter attacking, or not changing your behavior, your employees are going to see through this tactic. The results is that they won’t tell you what is on their minds or, at the very least, will tell you what they think you want to hear.