As an executive leadership consultant, I have an important question for you: Do you actively court feedback? Are you constantly seeking insight into how you’re doing your job, and suggestions for how you could do it even better?
To put it even more pointedly: If one of your team members approached you with a constructive performance review, how would you take it?
Would you get defensive? Would you get angry? Or would you welcome it for what it was: An invaluable opportunity to become sharper, stronger, and more effective as a leader?
See, we all like to receive praise and affirmation, but none of us particularly like being told we have room for improvement. That’s especially true when the constructive criticism comes from someone who is “under” us. But that feedback shouldn’t be viewed as a personal affront. We shouldn’t be insulted by it. Actually, we should soak it up. We should scramble for any chance we get to become even better at what we do.
We all have our blind spots — parts of our behavior that we may not see so clearly. Feedback helps us identify those areas, to see ourselves as others see us. That can be painful, but it can also be a kind of roadmap, pointing us down avenues for improvement.
A smart leader welcomes any and all feedback. Not only that, but he or she works to…
