We often think that there is no need for others to focus attention on specific issues, because we already know our strengths and weaknesses, we know what we need to improve, and we are working on it. We often hear feedback from our manager and colleagues and simply agree with them because they are not telling us anything new about ourselves.
However, statistically, such feedback constitutes 55%. The remaining 45% is what we have never thought about. This can include both positive and negative feedback. For example, a manager might discover that we have good project management, sales, or negotiation skills that we had not previously discovered in ourselves. This 45% consists of hidden potential or hindering factors that others have seen in us.
Think about your managers, your colleagues, your subordinates—do you know anything about them that, if changed, would bring them greater success and make them more productive? This skill is one of the constituent parts of modern management.
People, as a rule, perceive their results incorrectly. For example, a study was conducted in two IT companies where programmers were asked to evaluate themselves and were asked if they were in the top 5%. In the first company, 32% marked a positive answer, and in the second company, 42%. This means that out of 100 programmers, 32 said they were among the top 5, where only 5 people can be, and in the second company, 42 people occupied the place of 5 people.
You will encounter instances of misjudgment of oneself even in highly measurable work situations. For example, a sales employee who is tenth in the ranking will still say that they are in the top five and will explain that someone else has a better portfolio, but they work better. Feedback, however, allows people to reflect better on themselves and their results and perceive their work more realistically.
Feedback helps us see our behaviour from different perspectives. To listen to people who are authorities for us, and to be as objective as possible when evaluating ourselves.
According to a survey in which several thousand employees from about 100 companies were asked whether they would like to receive more information about themselves—on the one hand, what they do well, and on the other hand, what they could do even better—96% responded positively. This means that people are truly interested in seeing themselves through the eyes of others.
Feedback is an important gift for development. Therefore, it is important to be able to listen to the opinions of other people, have receptiveness, and correctly weigh the information received.
Irina Mamulaishvili
Ketevan Tkavadze
