Getting feedback from others can definitely be instructive. To further your growth, ask specific questions about their experience listening to you: what do they remember? What action will they take as a result of what you said? Do they understand something differently or more fully than before? How did your presentation resonate with them?
_Angie Flynn-McIver from, https://www.ignitecsp.com/blog/the-problem-with-getting-feedback-on-your-presentation/_
Saw this today, from our very own @Angie . (And you should read her blog post entirely.) Her thoughts align perfectly with mine and I want to share some details about how I ask for feedback just after Iâve finished a podcast recording with a guest.
I no longer use the words âfeedbackâ nor âcomments.â If I ask for general feedback, I get equally general praise. Praise is nice! âŠbut Iâm looking for things I can improve, or which I should keep the same.
In the instants after weâve finished, I think about how the experience just went. I pick one thing â it could have been something I think went poorly, or something that I think went very well, or something I forgot entirely, whatever. Then I ask a very specific question:
For example, in the Movers Mindset episodes, I end with a challenging question, and I even coach people before we start abou that question. I might ask (this could be a guest who struggled with the Q, or a guest who hit it out of the park)âŠ
That last question can be really hard to answer. Was there anything I could have done different in our discussion before we started that would make that easier to answer?
Or, any number of other really specific questions, (but Iâll leave you imagine the things Iâd have thought of that led me to these questions):
Was it annoying that I switched to communicating by email after weâd been dmâing for a year on Instagram?
I have a lot I wanted to cover before we started recording. Was there something that I mentioned that I can eliminate?
I asked you a few questions in a row where I was going âdeeperâ on the same subject. Did that feel intrusive?
To make the pattern clear: I ask a question that is one of two varieties: how-did-it-make-you-feel? and what-should-I-do/have-done? I do my best to not explain why I do what I do (or did) and I do not provide any more context than is necessary to focus their thinking on the specific thing.
Almost every time the following happensâŠ
People pause to think. Thatâs great because I donât want to waste our time with, âdo you have any feedback?â and they instantly say, ânah, it was awesome!â
People find it unusual to be asked for feedback with such a level of care and consideration. People appreciate that.
People sometimes give me specific, negative feedback. This is great, because they feel comfortable enough to skip that first slice of positivity-bread in the usual shit sandwich of blasé feedback.
And if they donât have some specific, negative feedback then they push back, âno, I thought that was great!â Then they immediately give me something critical that is unrelated.
Anyway, those are my thoughts â É
However it opens the door for people to simply speak, and sometimes a student will speak and then clarify his own thoughts, or it opens the door for another student to ask a question about something closely relatedâand she might not have otherwise asked that question.
