Accountable People Seek Feedback

Accountable people seek feedback—and feedback creates accountable people. In fact, people who embrace personal accountability never wait for others to come and give them feedback, they go out and ask for it, regularly and frequently. Feedback helps people, teams, and organizations face reality, identify problems, tackle obstacles, and address key issues. It helps people acknowledge reality—the first step towards greater accountability.

We have learned some important lessons as a result of helping thousands of people at every job level in organizations all across the world develop greater accountability for giving, receiving and acting upon feedback. That experience has both reconfirmed and taught us several valuable lessons about feedback. Here are ten of those lessons:

1. Feedback doesn’t happen unless you make it happen.
2. People tend to stop giving feedback over time, even if they once did it frequently.
3. It is easier to give appreciative feedback than it is to deliver con­structive feedback.
4. People often do not act on feedback without some sort of follow-up.
5. It is easier to filter feedback than to accept it.
6. People more fully appreciate the feedback they receive after they have applied it and seen its impact on their results.
7. Feedback declines after people improve because they assume it’s no longer necessary.
8. People struggle to know how to respond to the feedback they receive.
9. People typically fear receiving constructive feedback because they see it as criticism rather than helpful input.
10. Organizations always underestimate the difficulty of getting people to give and receive feedback.

One successful executive with one of our clients told us that, in his view, there is no better way to show genuine respect for people in the busi­ness than by offering them direct, honest feedback—particularly con­structive feedback intended to help them improve their performance. We’d like to share with you the way he puts it: “Do you think not giving feedback to somebody is respectful? Is going around them to their boss respectful? Is going to a peer in the hopes that they will mention something respectful? I often remind myself that delivering a tough message is the ultimate way in which I dem­onstrate respect to another human being. When I do this I put my fears aside and instead put their needs first, telling them what they need to hear. I have learned to deal with my discomfort while giving a difficult message and to not procrastinate in its delivery. That is one way I show respect for people.”

Hear Ginger Graham, Former President & CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, talk about how she used the feedback process to impact results in her organization.

When you’re not getting the feedback that you need, go out and ask for it.  If people are not getting the feedback they need, go out and offer it.  The ability to give, receive and act upon feedback is conspicuously visible and readily observable in accountable people—because without it, accountability will inevitably wane.