Thank you for the note
This has come up a few times recently, so I’m dropping in for a quick blog.
You’ve developed a work product that you’re really proud of. You’ve situated this product not only in your overarching business strategy but in the greater marketplace. You send your product around to trusted peers and colleagues for feedback (in consultant speak, you’ve socialized it), and you wait anxiously for responses. The response emails begin to arrive, changes are tracked and comments noted. And what you were excited about before, you feel bad about now.
Here’s why.
When you ask for feedback, the response you get often falls into one of three categories:
Criticism. It hurts. It feels all negative. And there’s no real action you can take based on the notes you’ve received. You may end up stymied by “what now?”.
Opinion. This may feel like feedback, but it’s framed through the expertise and experience of the reviewer (this is probably what you’re after) with the tone of “I would do this instead.” Do you adapt to someone else’s point of view or style?
Feedback. These are actionable reactions to your product, where the expertise and experience demonstrate gaps or things you’ve overlooked. It makes your product stronger.
We know it’s feedback that you were after all along. So how do we get that? How do we preempt the heartache of criticism and the compromise of opinion from the outset?
We shift the ask.
The next time you send something out into the world looking for feedback, be specific with what you’re looking for in return. Are you looking for proof-reading and formatting? Do you want someone to puncture your theories? What would learning more about someone’s experience do for your product?
The moment you focus the lens on what you’re asking, the easier it will be to filter out the things that don’t interest you in return. Narrow the scope and request the feedback you need.
