{"id":646,"date":"2013-10-21T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=646"},"modified":"2013-10-21T10:00:45","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T10:00:45","slug":"better-ways-to-solicit-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/better-ways-to-solicit-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Ways To Solicit Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soliciting feedback from our employees can be incredibly beneficial, but only if done right.\u00a0 Many of us attempt it, but not necessarily in a proper way.\u00a0 We may ask for it, but don\u2019t follow up, or don\u2019t react properly.\u00a0 Leadership roles get watched much more closely than non-leadership roles, which is exactly why we should not only listen to feedback, but reach out for it.\u00a0 Being able to accept feedback, and have those tough conversations will make you more emotionally intelligent and benefit you and your staff members down the road.<\/p>\n<p>Without intending it, we sometimes put off the message that we aren\u2019t open to feedback.\u00a0 It is easy to become defensive and argue for ourselves.\u00a0 It is difficult to simply listen to someones feedback without interjecting.\u00a0 We all sometimes feel like we can\u2019t ask a question, because we think that it makes us look unintelligent.\u00a0 We have to remember it is okay to be a learner.\u00a0 You don\u2019t always have to be the smartest person in the room.\u00a0 It is okay to turn into a sponge, and soak up someone else\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>We have a tendency to assume feedback means bad.\u00a0 Many times we close ourselves off to others and engage our defenses when others suggest improvements, but this is counterintuitive to a smart workplace.\u00a0 Understanding how others see your work performance can be extrememely beneficial.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few things you can do to solicit feedback for your employees in a better way.\u00a0 First consider asking these questions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What can I start doing to be more effective for you?<\/li>\n<li>What can I stop doing to be more effective for you?<\/li>\n<li>What can I keep doing to be more effective for you?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These questions shouldn\u2019t necessarily all be asked in the same meeting, and each one may need to be approached multiple times. Your employee needs time to think about the answers.\u00a0 This leads to the next tip.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask Often \u2013 No one wants to tell their boss everything when they are asked for feedback.\u00a0 A trust needs to be built with the employee.\u00a0 If you ask often, and the employee learns that you really care about the feedback, and they aren\u2019t punished for being honest, they will open up.<\/li>\n<li>Ask one on one. No group meetings.<\/li>\n<li>Respond Short \u2013 Your response is the most important and most difficult part of asking for feedback.\u00a0 They may tell you something you don&#8217;t like, you don\u2019t agree with, or don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 The only things you should say after soliciting feedback is \u201cThank you\u201d or \u201chelp me understand\u201d to get a explanation and then say \u201cThank you.\u201d\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a time to excuse or justify.\u00a0 If you try you will close that door of communication, and they will never open up again, or will at least be cautious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Feedback can be incredibly useful, but you have to know what to listen for, and you can\u2019t take it personally.\u00a0 You may hear 10 or 20 things about yourself people don\u2019t like, but you can\u2019t fix everything.\u00a0 Listen for the common themes and focus on them.\u00a0 Remember to solicit feedback later after making positive changes to see what they say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soliciting feedback from our employees can be incredibly beneficial, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[1081,1054,1082],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}