We all tend to dread feedback from time to time. We all love to hear the good things in life and avoid the bad. The most painful thing is to hear a negative feedback after we gave our best effort. We forget that it's always the bad things that make us grow. It's always the pains of life that make us a better person. That pain serves as a reminder that we are human, after all, and despite our achievements so far, there is still a lot for us to learn.
I conducted and innovation training workshop in one of the naval bases a few months ago and throughout that session, i really gave my all. The feedback was generally good. Most of them were generous in their feedback and some gave me rather high ratings. However, there was a couple of feedback, that gave me something to think about. According to the feedback from the 2 naval servicemen, I was boring and was often repetitive. I was angry at first and in my mind, I was thinking, "Hey! That is so unfair! I need to justify myself!". I was quite taken aback by that. My mentor asked me 2 questions;
1. Did you prepare yourself for this workshop?
2. Did you give your all, for this workshop?
She didn't want any answer. If I am a serious trainer, I would take those questions seriously and take responsibility for my own performance.
She then said, "Life is never fair. If you get a 100% high rating, complacency might be the order of your next training workshop. For whatever reason those 2 chaps failed you, it must not let you down. You need to sit down and recall how was the workshop conducted and ask yourself, how would you do differently to get better results."
I took the rest of the day, thinking about that session and true enough, in one occasion, in an attempt to emphasize an important point, I repeated a statement..twice. I told mentor on my self review. She gave me some advise which I would like to share with fellow trainers, like you..
1. Review. Most trainers neglect this part and too focussed on getting new businesses. New business is good but isnt it better to have your customers called you back for good service rather than you having to make cold calls? Review helps you to identify your own blind spots, which you can follow up later on. If customers feel that you are dedicated and committed, you are their training partners for as long as you remain dedicated. In addition to that, they may 'sell' you on their behalf.
2. Feedback forms must be able to provide you with the data that you need. Some feedback forms are rather vague and do not allow criticisms. Make it clear but not too lengthy
3. Tabulate your scores on the same day and get the chart our for your review. Study them and find out your blind spots.
What are your feedback strategies?
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