The Missed Opportunity That Can Make You Great!

Guest Blog by Bill Fitzgerald, Founder/Managing Partner of Exec Careers DC, Associate Member of Maryland Nonprofits

Read the original blog here.

When you ask most people what they think of when they hear the word “feedback” you immediately hear words like criticism, weaknesses, failures, under performance, performance appraisal, etc. Furthermore, there can also be emotional reactions like anxiety, worry, fear, etc.

As a result, as much as we need feedback to thrive and excel, we’ve become conditioned to avoid it at all costs. Not only are we reluctant to ask for feedback, we are even more reticent to receive it. How often do you see people push away compliments? For most of us, the experience has never been that pleasant and let’s face it, we’re conditioned to avoid pain whenever possible.

This is unfortunate because we are missing an important aspect of feedback that is often overlooked. The fact is, most of us, if we are experiencing any kind of success, are probably very good at whatever we do.

 

Without feedback, however, it’s often difficult to know exactly what we say or do that leads to our success and what others recognize as our greatest assets.

 

If you follow the 80/20 rule, what most people would find if they dared to ask for feedback, 80% of the feedback they receive would be very affirming and only 20% would call out areas that need some fine-tuning. Let’s be honest. We all have blind spots. Heaven forbid I find out I’m not perfect in spite of everything my mother always told me. Unfortunately we seem so worried about our blind spots getting exposed that we miss out on the true value of feedback.

 

If we can rethink our view of feedback and what we can expect from the experience of requesting and receiving feedback, feedback can prove to be invaluable. At its’ core, feedback is a way to learn – a way to learn what makes us great!

 

 

This is important for several reasons… Read more on Bill’s blog here.

Learn more about ExecCareers DC here.

Follow Maryland Nonprofits on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Looking for a new nonprofit career? Follow @MDNonprofitJobs.