Feedback as a Gift
One of the best analogies I've heard about receiving feedback is that it is like receiving a gift.
Someone else is doing the legwork of picking out the gift, preparing the gift, and then being vulnerable enough to present it to us.
It can be scary, vulnerable, and sometimes downright terrifying to give another person feedback - especially if we aren't sure how they will take it.
We, as the receiver of the gift, might not like what is inside. But if it's our birthday and we receive a gift that we don't like, we typically don't throw it back on the spot.
We accept it, we say thank you, and then we figure out what to do with it.
We can do the same when receiving feedback.
We can accept it, say "thank you for the feedback" and then figure out what to do with it.
A couple of questions we might ask the other person, after saying thank you for the feedback:
What makes you feel that way?
How could I improve in this area?
A couple of questions we might ask ourself:
What is the 1% truth in this feedback, even if I don't agree with all of it?
What might make the other person feel this way?
Even if this was not my *intention,* was it my impact? How can I work to align my intent with my impact?
What do you think?
