Change can be difficult. You might find change uncomfortable. You might also embrace change and find it exciting. Perhaps it varies.
Change can be slow; it can also be fast. What is changing, and how it is changing, can also impact how you view change.
Part of how you deal with change, professionally and personally, is based on feedback. We receive feedback in all forms every day.
How you utilize that feedback, whether wanted or unsolicited, is key.
Background
I went to lunch with a friend, who is a coworker, on Friday. His team recently moved offices back to where we currently are, and previously were, located together. We worked closely together for over a year on an ongoing series of projects.
After not speaking with him for a few months, we chatted initially about the usual work things: who is still in the team; did you hear so-and-so had a kid; what are we both working on; etc.
We then got to speaking on family and friends. We covered what we’re doing outside of work (hopefully doing a brewery trip together soon!), working out, and some other items of mutual interest.
Overall, we spent nearly an hour catching up. The feedback we exchanged – whether we really meant for it to be feedback or not – got me thinking.
What Can You (and I) Do Better?
I ask myself this frequently. If you don’t, I encourage you to try it every so often. But I realize I don’t ask others enough.
Ask your colleagues, friends, and family for their input and feedback. It’s valuable and appreciated.
However, at the same time, you should be mindful of your own respective processes and controls. These are what hold you personally accountable and on track.
Creating Controls & Processes
A number of your professional and personal controls are meant as oversight and/or complementary controls to those of others. This should be by design.
This might be a calendar reminder for a friend’s birthday. It might be joining a gym that charges you $14 if you skip a class.
Other teams’ respective controls are also meant to oversee those of you. It’s a system of checks and balances.
You can create various templates, checklists, and controls, but they only do so much. It’s the people in your life that make all the difference.
Related: 3 Lessons Why Assumption Is The Mother of All F*ck Ups
What Do You Do If You Don’t Have a Good Team?
I don’t think there are bad teams, personally or professionally. The question to ask: is it the right team for you? Right now? In the future?
Ask yourself if the people you’re spending your time with reflect your respective values and goals. This might change at different stages of your career or life.
This doesn’t mean stop interacting with members of the team or to go and find a new team; however, you should carefully balance what you’re putting in vs. what you’re getting out.
Teamwork should be mutually beneficial and, in certain circumstances, unconditional. If you’re part of a great team, you’ll know it. Until something changes.
It’s sometimes harder to realize you’re on the wrong team – especially if you’ve been doing the same thing without success. It might be the only thing you’ve known.
Related: March Madness: 3 Ways to Partner Better with Partners
Apply Feedback into Results
Ongoing guidance can continue to be provided to you via various communications. Each conversation, email, text message, and emoji is an opportunity to get feedback.
But without application, feedback is useless. It’s key you continue to strive for improvement with context.
We, professionally and personally, need to think about how our actions (or lack thereof) impact our clients and stakeholders.
Proactively Ask Questions
To help obtain and understand feedback, consider asking yourself:
- How can I make a process better?
- What small things can I do to enhance service quality? Relationship quality?
- Is there a more effective way to complete this task?
- Are we communicating in an effective manner with our clients? With each other?
- Do I understand the upstream and downstream impacts of my actions in my job? In my personal relationships?
- What is important to my client? To my team? To my partner?
If you keep asking yourself these questions, good things will likely happen for your clients and your team (and for you!).
Related: 365 Days Later: 137,794 Calories & 198 Workouts
Define a Purpose
Personal finance and fitness shouldn’t be just about reaching a number or a target.
What’s just as important is what you intend to do when you reach that number or target.
What’s your plan when you hit your savings target or reach a certain income level?
You tried to lose weight and reached your target weight level? That’s awesome (seriously)! What are you doing next to stay motivated?
Related: Late (Early) Edition: Thoughts at 2:00AM
Apply the Waterfall but Stay Agile
In project management (yes, I’m a nerd), some practitioners prefer the “waterfall” methodology. A project manager (PM) outlines a series of sequential milestones (and smaller tasks) that must occur in a predetermined order over a long period of time (depending on the project).
If you’re dealing with a hardcore PM, he or she might not allow for ANY variation to requirements or the plan. It will mess up their Gantt chart, so no changes to the original plan are allowed!
Comparatively, Agile is a new(er) style of project management utilized in various disciplines that utilizes a series or shorter work periods (i.e., sprints) to accomplish work. The requirement gathering, designing, building, testing, the release cycle is repeated multiple times.
With feedback, it’s important to have a long-term plan that goes through phases – just don’t get locked in if something clearly isn’t working. Be strategic and agile to course correct slightly when needed.
Looking Back – and More Importantly – Ahead
Communication is so important to feedback. Indirect feedback, while valuable, is sometimes harder to realize you’re actually getting it.
I’m still uncomfortable at times asking for and giving feedback. Those really difficult conversations are often the ones that are the most worth holding. Seek feedback out. Ask for suggestions. Balance is key.
Our favorite free financial tool is Personal Capital. We use it to track our net worth, manage our spending & savings, and to monitor our investments. It’s simple and free to use.
You say you are shy at times asking for feedback? Excellent article on the values of teamwork and the importance of seeking out feedback, I will suggest you are doing just fine.