The importance of seeking feedback

This article is an excerpt from Looking Beyond the Car in Front, written by Grant Duncan, Korn Ferry Managing Director & Sector Lead for Media, Entertainment & Digital EMEA. His book guides both senior and mid-career business executives in taking a more assertive and strategic longer-term approach to career choices. Note: Excerpt has been edited for clarity and length.

“Ignorance is bliss,” the English poet Thomas Gray wrote in 1742. For many, that is their attitude to feedback, and understandably so, because receiving feedback is hard, especially if it’s negative. And no matter who you are or how good you are, there is always going to be some negative feedback. That is why many people will only take feedback when it’s thrust upon them. Otherwise, if they’re doing just fine, getting the occasional slap on the back, and not getting on anyone’s bad side, they’re happy to just chug along (often behind the car in front).

That is why actively and regularly seeking out feedback, and being open to it is so important, because it gives you insight other people don’t get. It puts you above the mean. Seeking feedback is an acknowledgement that you might be falling short, that you might, in fact, be average, even if it’s only in one small area of what you do. Paradoxically, that acknowledgement is a sure-fire way to become above average.

That is not to say that to excel you need a crippling dose of impostor syndrome. But a healthy amount of self-doubt is far from a bad thing because it prevents you from getting too comfortable. That, in turn, ensures you are always doing not just a good job, but a better job than those around you, those who are happy they’re doing just fine. So how do you go about getting the kind of feedback that is going to give you an edge?

LOOK AT YOURSELF FROM EVERY ANGLE

As much as we may be poor at assessing our own shortcomings, that does not mean that, by definition, we are all brilliant at assessing others. Of course, that then means that not everybody will be brilliant at assessing you. Just because someone may be more senior to you, that does not mean they will have all the solutions to your problems. Indeed, when you are in a leadership position, the most valuable feedback will regularly come from your subordinates.

As a result, it is necessary to be open to 360 evaluations, no matter what point you are at in your career or what position you hold. It can help to look to entrepreneurs for inspiration.  As a cog in a company machine, it is eminently possible to coast along pretty nicely if you’re intelligent and hardworking, because your work is unlikely to fall below the acceptable. But it can be hugely beneficial to cultivate an environment in which you are regularly seeking and receiving feedback that ensures your work is more than just acceptable.

Because to become outstanding you need to look at yourself from every angle, that necessity remains even when you reach the top. It is important to note that there is a wrong way to do a 360 review, and that implementation and execution are crucial if the developmental benefits of the process are to be optimized. But being open to them is crucial, because you are the least reliable person to evaluate yourself. As a Harvard Business Review article on the subject puts it: “For a GPS system to get an accurate picture of your location, it requires four different satellites. For leaders to get an accurate picture of their own effectiveness, they need feedback from their manager, peers, direct reports, and others in the organization.”

FIND A GUIDE

A 360 degree review is an exhaustive and exhausting process. To be open and responsive to them, you need to have a good deal of resilience. But you can’t, and shouldn’t, have them that regularly.

The 360 review is not the only opportunity to get constructive feedback, though. Personal, individual feedback is equally useful, especially when it comes from someone more experienced, more qualified, and more objective than you are. This is where mentors and coaches come in.

The value of a good mentor is obvious. Having someone (or many people) to turn to for their advice, their expertise, and their different perspective – or just having someone to bounce ideas off – is invaluable when it comes to gaining self-awareness. A good mentor will pick you up if you’re down, but will also keep you in check if you’re getting carried away. They’ll expose you to new ideas, help you analyze decisions both big and small, and will oftentimes provide opportunities and connections you otherwise wouldn’t have got.

The key thing to realize about mentors is they often need to be sought out. Some people get lucky and get taken under someone’s wing. But you can also make it happen yourself. You just need to ask.