Feedback is one of my favourite topics to coach around. There’s so much to unpack and explore, and a lot we can reframe in a short amount of time.

While most often we’re working through how to give and receive it, there can also be times when we want more than we’re getting - because how can we improve if we don’t know where we are?

We just need to remember to ask a useful question, so that we get some useful information in response - instead of defaulting to “Could you give me some feedback?”.

The challenge with this question is that it’s often too broad, too vague, and too hard to answer in the moment - it doesn’t give us anything tangible to work with.

So, it helps to be more specific, and for that we need to take a step back and check our intention - why are we asking for it in the first place? What are we looking to gather information for? What’s the knowledge gap we want to fill?

Are we asking because:

We’re looking for reassurance that we’re doing a good job?
We have something specific we’re working on and we want to know if it’s coming across?
It’s important to know how that particular person sees us?
We’re newly in role and want to understand if we’re at the level we need and want to be at?
We’re trying to understand the particular strengths others see in us?

This matters - because the more specific we can be about the purpose, the more specific we can be with our question. We could ask:

What could I do more of, or less of, to be effective in this role?
Are you seeing this particular skill or quality in my work?
From your perspective, what am I doing well, and what would make my contribution better?
Am I where you would expect me to be, and are there any gaps it would be useful to close?
What do you see as my strengths?

The added benefit? It makes it much easier for the other person to answer. It saves them having to cast their mind far and wide, and gives them something tangible to respond to.

So, if you’re keen to get some feedback, take a moment to reflect on the question you really want to ask.

Instead of ‘could you give me some feedback?’ - what would give you more useful data and actionable information?

Being specific about the information you’re looking for can help set everyone up for a better conversation about the answers.

Wishing you all a week of asking for and receiving more useful feedback,