The Breakfast of Champions

Principle #17 - Use Feedback to Your Advantage

There are two types of feedback that you'll get - positive and negative.

We like positive feedback because it tells us we're on course.

We tend to dislike negative feedback because it tells us we're off course. However, knowing that we're off course is just as important, because it gives us useful information about "improvement opportunites".

Usually in life, we tend to go off course more than we go on course, but in the end we still get to our destination, just by continually taking action and constantly adjusting to feedback.

Some of these responses simply don't work when responding towards a feedback:

1. Caving in and quitting
• Caving in and quitting will only keep you stuck in the same place.
• Think of the automatic pilot system on an airplane. The system is constantly telling the plane that it has gone too high, too low, too far to the right, or too far to the left. The plane just keeps correcting in response to the feedback it is receiving. It doesn't all of a sudden freak out or break down because of the relentless flow of feedback.
  
2. Getting mad at the source of feedback
• All it does is push the person and the feedback away.
  
3. Ignoring the feedback
• You'll never know whether you're on course or off course.

Just as most people will tend to resist negative feedback for fear of getting hurt, most people will not voluntarily give you feedback for fear of hurting you. Therefore, it makes it easier to get feedback from others by ASKING.

"How do you see me limiting myself?" 

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of our service over the last quarter?" 

"What would it take to make it a 10?"

Not all feedback is useful or accurate. You must consider the source. Some feedback is polluted by the psychological distortions of the person giving you the feedback.

"If one person tells you you're a horse, they're crazy. If three people tell you you're a horse, there's a conspiracy afoot. If ten people tell you you're a horse, it's time to buy a saddle." ~ Jack Rosenblum

Here are some things you can do when the feedback tells you you've failed:

1. Acknowledge you did your best.
2. Acknowledge that you survived and you can cope with it.
3. Write down what you've learned.
4. Thank everyone for their feedback.
5. Clean up any mess and don't try to hide the failure.
6. Revisit some of your past successes.
7. Regroup and reaffirm your worth and contribution.
8. Refocus on your vision by incorporating what you've learned from the failure.

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." ~ Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson