Seven Words Lead To Your Improvement

Once upon a time I took a ride in a car share service (not naming it) in Los Angeles. I got a 'shared' ride, which was cheaper, seemed like it would get me where I needed to be on time, and thus was my best option. Surely, thought I, the All-Powerful car share service's (not naming it) AI would know we were all going to same direction etc.

First the car picked me up. Then it drove over to another location to pick up the next rider. Then another. Then, after riding around LA (I'm not from LA so we might as well have been driving around the desert) we dropped off one rider, the one who got in last. Then we dropped off the first other rider. Then we drove around some more. Finally we got to my destination. I looked at the driver. He looked at me. For the first time we spoke to each other.

I said, "How could I do better tomorrow?"

He said, "You need to start sooner."

I thanked him, gave him a five-star rating and a nice tip because he had given me the best feedback possible: feed-forward so that I could improve. 

Our HR guru, JP Elliott, is back at it. In his latest post, "How High Performers Ask for Feedback," his only and best direction is to ask this:

How could I do better next time?

The best feedback is fed forward. You cannot change what has happened. Everyone knows what you did. Your contribution to the organization is that you continue to improve. 

JP says there are three parts to this question:

1. Ask it at the right time with someone whose input matters

2. Wait for a response. There will be silence while that person organizes their thoughts. You must be comfortable with silence.

3. You must acknowledge and process the response, thank the person, and then act on it.

If you cannot see what you could do differently or you don't accept blame, you don't want to improve and your future value to the organization is nil because their business situation keeps evolving -- and you're not.

Ask us how you can evolve your performance.