How do you use feedback to improve your professional development?

In my previous job, We had been working on the project for months when we received feedback from our supervisor. The feedback was mixed, with some positive comments & some areas for improvement. Initially, we were defensive & dismissive of the feedback. But, we soon realized how essential it was to our success. Here's how the feedback mattered Helped Identify strengths & weaknesses Encouraged growth & development Enhanced self-awareness Promoted accountability Strengthened relationships Eventually, the product we developed was a success, all because of supervisor's feedback. Feedback matters as it provides individuals & teams with the insights they need to improve their performance, achieve their goals, & deliver high-quality work.

Using feedback to improve professional development involves these steps: 1. Listen: Pay attention to feedback from colleagues, supervisors, and self-assessment. 2. Analyze: Identify strengths and areas for improvement based on feedback. 3. Set goals: Define specific, measurable goals for professional growth. 4. Action plan: Develop strategies and a timeline for achieving those goals. 5. Seek guidance: Consult mentors or resources to support your development. 6. Implement: Put your plan into action, making changes based on feedback. 7. Reflect: Regularly assess progress and adjust your plan as needed. 8. Repeat: Continuously cycle through these steps to drive ongoing improvement.

I actively seek feedback, maintaining an open attitude to constructive criticism. Reflect on feedback and identify recurring themes to set clear, achievable goals. Develop action plans, seek relevant resources, and track progress diligently. Periodically request follow-up feedback to gauge improvement and adjust strategies accordingly. Sharing progress with colleagues and supervisors demonstrates commitment to growth in this dynamic field.

Feedback plays a important role in shaping our professional development. It serves as an mirror reflecting our strengths and areas for improvement. By actively seeking feedback from colleagues, mentors, or supervisors, we gain insights into our performance, communication, and interpersonal skills. It's crucial to approach it with an open mindset, viewing it as a catalyst for growth rather than criticism. We can then identify specific areas to focus on, set clear goals, and take deliberate actions to address weaknesses or build on our strengths. Regularly incorporating feedback into our professional development plan makes continuous improvement, enhances our skillset, and ultimately positions us to excel in our careers.

As Warren Buffet famously said: "Feedback is a gift". It can be translated not only in our daily lives but also in professional or technical aspects of our work. Receiving and actively seeking feedback will enable someone to have another person's point of view, as a result, it can turn into a lot of possibilities like improvement of one's self (can be simple as telling your little brother that making up the bed after waking up is a good idea, or high level as collaborating to your QA colleagues your ideas and best practices to be able to create test cases that can lead to an effective and efficient test scripts or giving feedback about what went wrong during the last release or even how to avoid certain bugs and application issues.

I learned at the mid stage of my career (while moving to middle management level from supervisor level) about “respond do not react” skill while receiving feedback of any sort. Even if it was positive or negative feedback, I believe this approach helps. While responding we are careful about our words and we use our brain more. Reaction is more of emotional driven and we bring personal perspective into the conversation. It helped me a lot and I am thankful to my guru for this

Embrace a mindset based on radical honesty. This is a philosophy where we care personally but challenge directly. This challenge includes our self-perceptions. If you only receive “feel good” feedback, then you are not being challenged. To grow, you must let go of seeing feedback as an attack. On the flip side, if you only receive negative feedback, then you lose out on witnessing your own progress. Seek radical candor. Ask others directly, and if someone uses ruinous empathy, ask them to tell you the truth instead. Seek feedback; your power lies in acceptance.

As a senior supervisor who previously handled data analysts, feedback is not always positive and can always go both ways. It can be as dismissive and personal as it can be or extremely useful and constructive. As a leader or someone who received a feedback, one aspect of effectively receiving it is by being objective. In this way you can be open to all possibilities and validate "WHY" a particular feedback has been made. It is better not to dismiss any feedback right away but rather actively listen and evaluate every aspect of the feedback. Gather data if need be, talk to someone, ask questions, validate the answers and in turn actions and decisions should be made constructively based of a valid feedback.

Feedback is a powerful tool for improving business performance. But to be effective, feedback must be a habit whether internally from employees or externally from customers and interested parties. I have built internally feedback in my work by making it as part of company's QMS as follow: adopt and approve it by the organization’s senior management - reflect it within the company’s procedures - in addition to encouraging the submission of all suggestions and rewarding good ones.

Feedback process should be in culture of organisation. Regular feedback on personal conduct, collaboration, communication and effectiveness of an employee by colleagues, team members and managers should be in place. The metrics and process should be unbiased as much as possible to obtain right results from feedback mechanism. It’s always important to emphasise on “what” and “how” than “who”. Last but not least leaders should set right example to team members to follow the right path.