Processes All my life, I have been interested in processes. At home, I have figured out the “best” way to load the dishwasher to fit the most dishes and get them the cleanest. (My wife isn’t convinced that my way is “best”, but she is happy as long as I’m doing the dishes.) At work as a software engineer at LearningBridge, I often need to determine the most efficient process to accomplish a particular task. That way I can write code for my software that will be fast, robust, and elegant. If a process I create is inefficient or poorly […]

Personal feedback can be such an uncomfortable subject! We do all we can to avoid being in the hot seat. It’s hard enough to try to break old habits when it comes to myself, but it’s even more difficult to try to convince others to accept feedback. While working with HR to launch a new survey run for their managers, I try to reiterate the important role these feedback participants have in receiving a well-rounded report. The participant loses the opportunity to gain valuable insights into their leadership development when at the end of the process they get an incomplete […]

I remember an initial call with a client who had no idea where to start in her search for a 360. It’s hard to forget the urgency and uncertainty in her voice–was her request feasible in such a short timeframe? She specified the survey had to launch as soon as possible for her executive leadership team. This was the first time they would be going through the process together, but they were open to a pre-determined leadership model. She did not have any survey items prepared, and just going over the tasks she needed to complete was becoming way too […]

A lot of attention is given on how to provide feedback to other people, but less attention is given to how we should receive the feedback to help us improve. The following are six guiding principles that can help us receive feedback given to us. These principles can be applied to most situations in which you receive feedback. Use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to accept and act on feedback by sharing with others. Don’t take it personally, make it useful. Keep in mind your current responsibilities and career objectives as you consider what feedback matters most. […]

Ignorance Is Not Bliss Have you ever looked in the mirror and discovered a little piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and then thought, “Has that been there since lunch? I’ve been talking to people all afternoon. Why didn’t anybody tell me about it?” If somebody had told you earlier that there was spinach in your teeth, it would have been an embarrassing moment; however, it would have been less painful than the thought that the spinach had been there during all of your conversations and meetings. Ultimately you would be grateful that the person cared enough to let […]

We all know we need feedback to grow and improve, but when negative feedback is on its way, we are likely to duck and cover or worse, stand and fight. So why do we avoid the very feedback that we may need to achieve our own aspirations? The simple answer is, negative feedback hurts. The same regions in the brain that light up when we have physical pain also light up when we receive negative feedback. The “pain” primes us for an immediate instinctive fight or flight response. The thoughtful, rational consideration the feedback deserves is nowhere to be found. […]