Self-awareness is the secret ingredient for growth, both personal and professional. But it’s no easy feat—seeing ourselves objectively and understanding how others perceive us requires constant effort and, often, the courage to seek feedback. Feedback, whether from colleagues, friends, or mentors, provides that external mirror, helping us to spot blind spots, reinforce strengths, and ultimately grow. Here’s how feedback can turbocharge your self-awareness journey and practical tips for using it to your advantage.
Why Feedback is Essential for Self-Awareness
Feedback acts as a compass, helping us understand where we stand and where we need to go. It’s a two-way communication process that can reveal areas for improvement and confirm what we’re doing well
. By seeking and accepting feedback, we become more attuned to our actions and behaviors’ impact on others, allowing us to align better with our goals and values.
For many, there’s often a gap between how we view ourselves and how others experience us. Feedback closes this gap, offering insights that aren’t always visible from our perspective. Embracing feedback can increase our self-awareness, making us more resilient, motivated, and effective in our roles
Types of Feedback and How to Use Them
Feedback generally falls into three categories, each serving a unique purpose for growth:
- Appreciation Feedback: This type of feedback acknowledges your efforts and achievements, boosting morale. Knowing what you’re doing right can help you reinforce good habits and maintain momentum
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. - Coaching Feedback: This forward-focused feedback offers actionable guidance to enhance specific skills or behaviors. Coaching feedback is invaluable for continuous improvement, providing you with clear steps to grow
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. - Evaluation Feedback: Often tied to benchmarks, evaluation feedback measures your performance against set standards. It can be eye-opening, highlighting areas that need attention and fostering a mindset of improvement
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Practical Steps for Leveraging Feedback
To make feedback a powerful tool in your self-awareness journey, try these strategies:
- Seek Out Diverse Perspectives: Don’t limit yourself to one source of feedback. Gather input from 3-5 individuals who have your best interests at heart, such as a mix of peers, supervisors, or trusted colleagues. This range provides a fuller picture, allowing patterns to emerge rather than one-off observations – Use SkillProfile to request feedback from your group of trusted people.
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. - Ask the Right Questions: Frame your feedback requests to encourage constructive responses. A practical approach is the “Keep, Stop, Start” model:
- What’s one thing I should keep doing?
- What’s one thing I should stop doing?
- What’s one thing I should start doing?
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- Reflect Before Reacting: Receiving feedback can be tough, especially if it’s critical. Take a moment to process what’s been said, allowing yourself to digest the information without a defensive response. Reflecting lets you appreciate the feedback’s intent and assess how you can apply it constructively
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. - Set SMART Goals Based on Feedback: Use feedback as a foundation for setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals. For instance, if feedback highlights a need for improved communication, set a goal to practice and measure your public speaking skills over the next month
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. - Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Seeing feedback as an opportunity rather than a critique is essential. A growth mindset enables you to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and continuously learn from feedback
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SkillProfile removes the friction from using feedback by anonymizing the ratings and keeping the profile personal and private. If you want to share, you can, otherwise you can use it for growth.
The Long-Term Benefits of Using Feedback
Incorporating feedback into your routine isn’t just about short-term improvements; it’s a lifelong investment in your personal and professional growth. Through regular feedback, you’ll become more adept at recognizing and adjusting unproductive behaviors, enhancing your emotional intelligence, and improving your relationships within and outside of work. As you build this feedback habit, you’ll find yourself more open, resilient, and equipped to tackle challenges with confidence.
Feedback-driven self-awareness isn’t about perfecting ourselves but about evolving. With each new insight, we step closer to becoming our best selves, leading to improved performance, healthier relationships, and greater overall satisfaction. So go ahead—invite feedback, listen carefully, and let it fuel your journey to becoming more self-aware and effective in all that you do.
At SkillProfile we believe it should be easy for people to request and receive useful feedback that they can use to grow. Our mobile app and employer experience are designed to help individuals and companies foster high quality feedback. Learn more at www.skillprofile.com
To dive deeper, consider exploring self-awareness courses on platforms like Udemy, which offers options to enhance emotional intelligence, active listening, and effective communication skills. And remember, self-awareness through feedback is an ongoing process, so make it a regular practice to solicit and reflect on insights from those around you.
Griffin Hill. The Role of Feedback in Personal Growth: Getting and Using Feedback Effectively. Accessed November 4, 2024.
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ps://blog.griffinhill.com/the-role-of-feedback-in-personal-growth-getting-and-using-feedback-effectively
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Signals. How Does Self-Awareness Increase Performance at Work? Accessed November 4, 2024. Source.
Results Coaching Global. Want to Inc
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elf-Awareness? Ask for Feedback. Accessed November 4, 2024. Source.
Deeper Signals. The Top 5 Reasons Why Feedback is Critical to Success. Accessed November 4, 2024. Source.
Suzi McAlpine. How to Ask for Feedback and Increase Your Self-Awareness. Accessed November 4, 2024. Source.