From Consistent Performance to Continuous Improvement
- I embarked on a new journey in my professional life when I resigned from my first job in the year 2016, to join another institution. Even though I didn’t change my profession, there was a radical change in the mindset of the students and the management at the institution I joined. It was not an easy task for me to adapt to a totally new environment as I had a very convenient and peaceful work-life balance at my previous institution. Within a month of my reporting to the new job, the principal came with a feedback format to get the feedback from the students.
- Though the feedback was not that horrible for me, considering the students’ mindset, (Which took me a long time to understand) that was the first time I got a significant amount of negative feedback from them along with positive feedback.
- From the traditional education system, where the fee was very moderate, to a feedback-based education system, where students have every right to ask what they want as they have paid a hefty amount in the form of fee, my life had drastically changed.
- Many of my colleagues then, and even today believe that the students don’t qualify to give feedback as they are not matured enough to perform that task. Even I too believed the same for a long time. However, my training career saved me to some extent from clinging on to this belief. In the past, even though I had received feedback from the students, I found some of their demands were not realistic. However, now I have realized that the purpose of feedback is not only to know our shortcomings but also to understand others’ expectations from us. It also helps to clarify any misunderstandings between the two parties concerned.
- Feedback has become just a ritual even today, and yet most people fail to accept it gracefully. No matter what position you hold in your life, you always fall prey to your own ego, when you overlook other's suggestions.
- It is quite convenient to argue that you have reached a certain stage in your life, and you need not listen to the opinion of the people who are not even as successful as you are. That is the first weakness of many successful people. They have attained a certain level of success by their hard work and smart work, and now they assume they are beyond anyone’s feedback. That is the blind-spot everyone goes through.
- In his book “What You Got Here Won’t Get You There”, the writer Marshall Goldsmith discusses many pitfalls of successful people, who are averse to change or any feedback for improvement. The leaders fail to embrace the fact that the age of consistent performance is gone. Now, this is the age of continuous improvement. If one fails to improve on a continuous basis in a digital world, all the knowledge and skills a person acquired in the past not only becomes irrelevant but also becomes counterproductive.
- A leader in any field should be aware that his employees in the lower rung have a better knowledge of the ground reality than the people working in the higher level of the hierarchy. The age of the industrial revolution, where the managers are smarter than their subordinates is long gone. Now, this is the age of knowledge revolution, where the subordinates are smarter than their superiors or employers. If an employer is only focused on giving orders and is reluctant to suggestions, he will not stay in his business for a long time. Chanakya insists on open-door policy for the king, where the king should not be surrounded only by the ministers (top officials) but he should also be available for common employees or citizens who have a better knowledge of society.
- The same thing applies to professionals as well. A teacher might have many years of experience of teaching the same topic. But one should be aware of the changing generation. If you have good teaching skill, it is not enough. Now people are judged not only by their core professional sskills but also by their overall personality. Even if the teachers have to teach the same syllabus, the methodology of teaching should change. The teachers must constantly get feedback through a proper channel.
- In every profession, most of the time, an employee or a group of employees always wonder about the lack of common sense their boss possesses while taking some important decisions or giving some unrealistic tasks. But they conveniently forget that there are people who report to them too, and they too have their own reasons to come to the conclusion that their superior to is lacking common sense. An employee wishes to enlighten his boss by his suggestion but avoids doing so with the fear of facing negative consequences if his boss is not the kind of person who is open to feedback. But, that employee, on the other hand, insulates himself against getting feedback from his coworkers or juniors. He thinks that he knows better. That is the fallacy everyone is going through.
- I am aware that not every feedback is genuine. Sometimes feedback really hurts. In a few cases, you have to proceed with your guts being deaf to others’ logical suggestions if you want to achieve something new and extraordinary. That is why many avoid getting feedback lest it hurts their ego. There is a solution to this. Feedback focuses on what happened in the past. Therefore it becomes too personal. Instead of getting feedback, one can focus on feed-forward. Instead of asking what went wrong, it is better to ask what needs to be done. Feed-forward sounds impersonal. No party is hurt by it.
- The sure recipe to success is getting constant feed-forward from the people whose opinion is important in your professional and personal growth. If they want the best from you, they always suggest what action plan you should follow in the future. Feed-forward need not deal only with intellectual aspects. It can also be about changing one’s attitude. If feedback uses the language of “short temper” for a person who cannot control his anger so easily, feed-forward uses the language of “patience” to be followed in future. But you have to be wise enough to accept it without any resistance and follow those which your conscience thinks is right.
- Let’s begin now. What is your feed-forward for me?
True sir
ReplyDeleteVery true
ReplyDeleteright sir
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