Get Feedback: You Can’t Fix a Problem You Don’t Know You Have
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You can’t fix a problem you don’t know about.
This applies to every business and personal relationship in your life.
Reason number 8,276 that feedback is massively important: if you aren’t aware that anything is wrong, then you can’t fix it.
Having systems of feedback in place in every relationship is vital to its success. Whether that relationship involves coworkers, customers, a company and its employees, or personal friendships and relationships in your life, this is so beneficial to be mindful of.
Don’t just wait for feedback, go ask for it.
If you value having healthy business and personal relationships then you have to be the one to initiate feedback.
There is no faster, easier, and less expensive way to find out how you are impacting others and gauge their experience of you than gathering their perspective. And don’t rely on a passive “open door policy” for feedback, go initiate it. If you’re a leader, ask your team for their feedback about you and about their jobs. If you’re a company, ask your customers and clients about how satisfied they are and how you can improve their experience.
Assuming everything is fine is a huge risk.
Don’t assume that no news is good news when it comes to maintaining relationships. For example, your employees and customers will rarely come to you to voice feedback, even if they are having a really negative experience. The reality is that many employees will quit their jobs before they come to you and share critical feedback.
Every employee, customer, team, etc., should be given a chance to communicate feedback. A lot of employees and customers don’t have the courage to bring concerns forward and are lost because no one asked for their feedback. And had they been asked, the company would have had the chance to make improvements that would have retained them. Don’t risk that. Be proactive, ask questions, and open yourself to feedback.
And what if nothing’s wrong? Bonus points.
If nothing is wrong that’s the best possible scenario. Just by initiating the conversation and providing an opportunity for them to share feedback reinforces and shows that you care about the relationship and value their experience. It gains you bonus points with the other person just for asking.
You can’t fix a problem or improve a situation if you don’t know anything is wrong. Be proactive and open up lines of communication for issues to be brought to your attention. Every business and personal relationship benefits from the ability to address issues in order to continually improve.
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