Iron Sharpens Iron

In sport there are several ways to test our skills and preparation. Races, matches, bouts are all ways in which we demonstrate our abilities and allow our opponents to examine us. The results are outstanding. We develop in ways which are truly unbelievable.

When it comes to work, we have competitors but we rarely find ourselves face to face with them, there is no one on one, direct feedback. The only time we get to expose our work safely and get instant, direct feedback is through our own team mates, managers and other colleagues is during reviews, even pipeline calls and meetings. In these situations, it is easy to subconsciously become defensive about our work and take the path of least resistance. If we dare open our minds and our work and hear what our colleagues have to say, there is a lot to gain. People are doing us a service by inspecting our work. We have the opportunity to use internal examination and the product of many years of wisdom and experience our team mates bring to sharpen our pitches/proposals in the short term and bring positive business outcomes for our customers and to us in the long run. We have to learn not to leave this wisdom on the table.

Something to think about while performing the inspection as well. We need to learn to be empathetic in our inquiries. The person putting her work up for inquiry has spent time and effort producing the work. We can convey our feedback by all means but we need to be considerate with our words and appreciate the work that has gone into getting to this point.