Never forget feedback is a gift--cherish it Published June 15, 2014 By Lt. Col. James R. Wilson 94th Airlift Wing Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Whether it's the newest Airman or the longest tenured officer in your unit, everyone wants to feel like they're an important part of the team. It's why we work so hard at our jobs--to apply knowledge gained from weeks of formal training or tasks that will challenge us and make the organization stronger. Why is it then, we often take exception when our bosses or other members of the unit tell us we can do better? I suspect there could be a number of reasons. Perhaps the manner in which that message is delivered is terse or abrasive. It could be the person telling us this is someone we don't admire or feel has the experience to critique our work. It could also be because supervisors often don't fully understand or appreciate the effort we've made to get to our current level of performance. Whatever the reason, people often shut down when told they need to work harder or improve on a particular aspect of their job performance. This is, in my opinion, what keeps good organizations from becoming great. It prevents otherwise effective units from being the very best at what they do. My personal view on this topic has been to always try and be open to this exchange of information. To be honest, I never thought too much about the person's motivations or whether the assessment was accurate or warranted. But I feel like I understand the dynamics much better now. Some of that clarity comes from experience. Most of my perspective on this topic though comes from what I've learned from those who understand how to build winning teams far better than I. Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, gained worldwide fame for his speech The Last Lecture after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and having only a few months to live. His perspective on how we view ourselves in the workplace is something that stood out with me. He said, when you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. So when you see yourself doing something badly and no one is bothering to tell you, that means they gave up. Your critics are the ones telling you they still care. He said those words in his lecture seven years ago and I've never forgotten them. What I took away from that was feedback is a gift. It's intended to make us better. If you're a supervisor or in a position of leadership, take the time to do this right. Be sure to praise your members when they do things well and encourage them when they occasionally miss the mark. If you're on the receiving end of this conversation, be open to feedback and use it to enhance your already diverse set of skills. We owe it to ourselves and to the company to operate this way. By doing so, we make the 94th Airlift Wing a better place to work and increase its chances for survival and prosperity long after we're gone.
