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Part II: How to Obtain and
Act on Feedback and Become a Successful Manager
 If
you want to become a manager it's essential to start
developing management skills such as open, honest and
constructive communication - that's why feedback is
invaluable.
Even if your company doesn't have a 360 degree feedback
process in place you can still elicit and act on comments
from team members, colleagues, your manager, clients and
suppliers. It's as easy as combining A, B, C with the
courage to hear and act on their responses.
Ask:
Ask your colleagues to be honest with you and tell
you three of your best attributes (do more of that behavior
or at the least, keep it up) and three you could improve.
Keep an open mind and don't hear the latter as criticism but
an opportunity that takes you one step closer to your
management, team leader or supervisor role.
Be
honest with yourself: If you keep hearing the same
feedback from different people over and over again, you
can't just brush it off as, "That's their problem."
The fact that you're the one common denominator in all the
scenarios is a pretty good indication that there is room for
improvement.
A client of mine, Sara, who worked as a Customer Service
Representative got feedback that she spent more time surfing
the Internet and reading magazines then doing her job.
Her ‘excuse' was that she had finished what needed to be
done and she was doing those activities to ‘fill in time',
which was true, but interpreted by those around her rather
differently.
A concerned colleague suggested instead of filling her work
time with non work related activities she could look for
initiatives within the business to occupy her.
Within a month she had joined a process improvement
committee, actively asked team members if she could help
them and upped the quality of her own work.
Three months later she was made team leader. From a warning
to a promotion - not bad huh?
Change
is good: You may think people are asking you to
change who you are. But that's not the case, they are
providing career catapulting information for improvement.
Consider yourself lucky! In the commercial world unhappy
customers don't tend to give feedback, they just don't give
you any more business.
Just about everybody I know who actioned their feedback has
felt great about the change. After all, who doesn't want
better working relationships where you are acknowledged for
improvements instead of resisting change.
Remember ‘feedback' is invaluable career building
information and should not be seen as a list of perceived
failings.
By continuing to highlight your best attributes and
continually improving you are setting yourself up for
management success and like Sara, you could get a promotion
and find yourself becoming a manager sooner rather than
later.
To discover more
tips on
becoming an effective manager
and the
tools that will skyrocket you into your first
management, supervisor or team leader role by learning
techniques for feedback, communication, dealing with
difficult people, killer interview scripts, showcasing your
skills, making your first week in your new job the best it
can be and much, much more.
CLICK HERE FOR PART I
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ARTICLES
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