Hugh’s Words of Wisdom Wednesday for August 19, 2020: Feedback is the breakfast of champions
Hugh's Words of Wisdom Wednesday 08.19.2020
This week I want to talk with you about feedback. Are you getting it? Are you using it to your advantage?
On Saturday night, the lovely Ms. Alyson and I had dinner with friends. And as we were having our cocktails; at a socially safe distance, my friend, Mike, was asked by Alyson if he had ever seen my Words of Wisdom for Wednesday. He said, "yes, it comes up on my LinkedIn feed. I don't know if Alyson asked him or if I did, but he was asked, "what do you think?" And he said I've got some suggestions.
Now, when he said, "I have some suggestions," that's a clue that he's going to give me some feedback. And I actually welcomed the feedback because Mike is someone that I trust and respect. (A quick side note about feedback. Do you trust and respect the person giving you the feedback? If you do, you are much more likely to listen to them.)
What Mike said was the following:
Don't stare into the camera. Sometimes as much direct eye contact as you give, it can be tiring or even draining.
Change the lighting to a diffused type of light.
Lower the microphone and don't have it so close to your mouth.
Change the camera angle to where you are not directly in the idle of the screen.
Today, I am role modeling accepting and applying feedback. I want to see how Mike's suggestions work and will send this video to him and ask for other recommendations for getting better.
I want to ask you though, do you know how well you're doing in your leadership and organization? How are the relationships that matter most to doing? If you have stakeholders, have you asked them for feedback? Have you recently told them what you want to get very good at doing and asked them to help you get better? Have you specifically asked them for two suggestions for how you might get better?
I believe feedback is the breakfast of champions. People who want to grow move to the next level of performance cannot or will not achieve excellence without getting feedback. Excellence requires a coach. You need someone in your life that will look at your behavior and tell you what works, what doesn't, and suggest ideas for improvement.
I want you to think about last week, for example. Did you seek out any feedback? How about the previous two weeks? How about the previous month? Do you have a regular habit of asking for help to get better as a leader?
Get in the habit of asking for feedback, internalizing it, and communicating to people what you're going to do based on the feedback. When you do, your leadership will get significantly stronger and more effective.
If you want to see data on getting stronger, go to the executive coaching section of our website. You'll see there that we have a guaranteed 95 percent success rate in our coaching work. You've got to follow our process, and that requires requesting and applying feedback continually just like I am.
The breakfast of champions. When did you last have the breakfast of champions?
That's it. I hope you have a fabulous week. And remember to live boldly.