“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

Elon Musk

“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.”

Albert Einstein

Question to Sheryl Sandberg: “What’s the number one thing you look for in someone who can scale with a company?”

Her answer:

“Someone who takes feedback well. Because people who can take feedback well are people who can learn and grow quickly.”

The ability to give feedback is a critical skill for leaders and teams, and plenty of us have received training and coaching on how to do exactly that. The ability to receive feedback is an equally important skill, and yet very few of us have learned how to do that without:

• Defensiveness (“That’s just not true!”)
• Dismissal (“Who are YOU to tell me that?”)
• Distain (“Ugh. I don’t want to hear this.”)
• Distortion (“This must mean I am a horrible person.”)
• Discounting (“It’s no big deal.”)

Why does this matter? Because studies show that feedback seekers experience greater job satisfaction, lower turnover, adapt faster in a new organization or new role, demonstrate greater creativity on the job, and have higher performance ratings, especially if they seek out NEGATIVE feedback.

Who wouldn’t want that?

In my recent Harvard Business Review Facebook Live presentation on “How to Give and Receive Feedback”, I share user-friendly tips, tools and techniques for how to make feedback (both giving and receiving) less stressful and more successful. More than 84,500 viewers worldwide have watched this in the past few weeks – and have sent me their feedback – and I invite you to do so, too. Email me to headcoach@myjewishcoach.com.