How will I be perceived, if I ask for feedback?

Posted by Cheryl Sylvester, Coach & President, Beyond Success Leadership

8526 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/22/how-will-i-be-perceived-if-i-ask-for-feedback/How+will+I+be+perceived%2C+if+I+ask+for+feedback%3F++2009-04-22+14%3A49%3A10Cheryl+Sylvester

It’s typical that we want feedback on our work, our projects or events. Not the ‘great job, now let’s get on to the next deadline’ kind, but some thoughtful, useful – and of course, timely feedback. We want to know that we’re on track or off track, and how to improve for next time.

So, it’s normal to want feedback – and – guess what, it’s also normal to be afraid of how you will look asking for it.  Will I look insecure? Needy? Like I can’t wait for the formal review process?   There’s some truth in that voice of the ‘inner critic’, which can guide you in asking for feedback.  It can provide guidance for being relevant, choosing who and when to ask for feedback.

And don’t let that voice stop you.  You know that feedback is essential to growth.  Many opportunities for growth will be lost if you wait for a quarterly, or untimely annual review.  And receiving feedback from more than just your boss can help you gain valuable perspectives on your work.

So how will you look, asking for feedback?  I’m going to suggest that you’ll look confident, and humble, enough to be open to improvement and growth.  In fact, as a coach, I see asking for feedback as taking charge of your own development – leading yourself!

Where to start?  As with all learning, you can take baby steps*.  First, you can start with seeking your feedback from highly trusted sources, anonymously.  As you get more comfortable, you can ask for anonymous feedback from others who you respect, outside your inner circle.

Another baby step is to start with small questions. Not so small as to be meaningless, but small in terms of risk for you.  Ask about a project or event that you feel good about, and ask for suggestions for focused improvements.  Here’s an example:  How could I improve the flow of my presentation at our last meeting?  Check out the sample question list on the Rypple home page for examples.

By asking for feedback, you’ll demonstrate that you want to improve.  And most importantly, you’ll demonstrate that you are leading yourself, taking charge of your own growth.

Now, how would you like to be perceived? Take the step, ask for feedback – and lead yourself!

(*For those who hate baby steps, watch for the upcoming post on ‘Diving into the deep end of the Feedback Pool’)

Tags: Feedback, perception

I never thought of using Rypple for that!

Posted by David Priemer, Product & Community

8212 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/17/i-never-thought-of-using-rypple-for-that/I+never+thought+of+using+Rypple+for+that%212009-04-17+19%3A42%3A22David+Priemer

When I sat down last fall to record our first Rypple  intro video, the primary use case for Rypple was all about  “How am I doing?” and “What do you think of my work?” .

Well, we’ve come a long way since then – all driven by our fantastic users. We think it’s awesome that you’ve taken our simple service and found an incredible variety of practical business applications for it!

Check out some fantastic uses for Rypple below. We can’t wait to see what you dream up next!

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Personal Feedback (AKA: “What do you think about me?”)

What’s it about?: The classic! Many people want quick, actionable feedback on a specific task, deliverable, or behavior.  Personal feedback helps Rypplers to improve and advance their careers.

Sample Request: “What’s one thing you liked about the presentation I gave today and one thing you would suggest I change for next time?”

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Customer Outreach (AKA: “How is our company doing serving you?”)

What it’s about: Knowing what your customers think about the service you provide is key whether you’re kicking off a project, running a promotion, or simply running your business! Knowledge is power.

Sample Request: “Do you feel your recent project kickoff meeting has set you up for success? How can we best support you moving forward?”

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Team Feedback (AKA: “What do you think about us?”)

What’s it about?: It’s about US. How are we doing as a team? What feedback do you have for the group?

Sample Request: “How we can improve and collaboration and communication within our team?”

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The Micro-Poll (AKA: “Hey Everyone! Can I quickly get your thoughts on this?”)

What’s it about: Forget email or long surveys that people hate filling out (or don’t bother responding to)! Asking a large group one simple question is a surefire way to get the quick answers you’re looking for!

Sample Request: “What was the highlight of this year’s user conference for you? What’s one thing we can improve for next year?”

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Decision Support (AKA: “What do you think about this idea?”)

What’s it about:  Need to make a decision and want input from others? Getting everyone together and slowly coaxing out suggestions takes too long!  Meetings can be painful when everyone is gauging their opinion by what everyone else is saying.

Sample Request: “What do you think our team’s top priorities should be for 2009?”

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Executive Outreach (AKA: “How have we been treating you?”)

What it’s about: Engage your people by showing them that their feedback matters!

Sample Requests: “What do you like best about working here and how can we make our company an even better place to work for you?”

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Rapid Peer Reviews (AKA: “What do you think about this person?”)

What it’s about: Supplement those hard-to-organize (and costly) 360 reviews! Quickly ask for feedback to help coach your team to success.

Sample Request: “Briefly describe your experience working with John Smith during Q2 of 2009.”

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These are just a few examples of Rypple’s application we’ve learned from you.  We’d love to hear more.  Drop us a line or comment to let us know how YOU are using Rypple.

Tags: Customer Stories, Questions, Use Cases

How to Avoid “Dead End” Questions

Posted by Dan Erwin, Dan Erwin is a nationally recognized management consultant, having coached more than 400 managers and executives from many of the finest corporations in the world, including an extensive client base from the Fortune 500.

7872 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/15/how-to-avoid-dead-end-questions/How+to+Avoid+%22Dead+End%22+Questions2009-04-15+20%3A07%3A07Dan+Erwin

Interested in writing better Rypples? Check out Jamie Resker’s post on Good vs. Bad Questions.

Asking effective questions is the key to gaining constructive feedback. That’s not an easy task. Truly meaningful and illuminating questions are incredibly tough to orchestrate. Indeed, professionals regularly ask me for help in the development of useful feedback questions.

You face two major issues in creating effective questions: substance and format. Deciding what you want to find out is all about substance. Figuring out how to phrase a question is format. Most professionals have a sense of what they want to find out, but because they give format little consideration, their questions fail to achieve their objective. Format can increase your control. When you probe with smartly-formatted, open-ended questions you not only control the topics, but you also provide better opportunities for response.

As a result, when I’m interviewing for feedback, I avoid all “dead-end” questions and structure my request in open-ended fashion. I want responses that make it possible for me to “hitchhike” and gain further clarity. It’s the initial word in the question that usually determines the feedback you get. This simple chart can help you think about your question format:

Suppose you’re asking for feedback about your teamwork: “Are roles and responsibilities clear enough on our team?” You began with a dead-end term, and have formatted the question for either a yes or no. Instead, reformat the question with an open-ended term: “How can we do a better job of clarifying roles and responsibilities on our team?” Or, “What suggestions do you have to improve team member responsibilities?”

Although an open-end format may result in the respondent saying, “Nothing else needs to be done,” or “I don’t have any suggestions,” generally, my question forces her to think more deeply about the issue. Most managers detest giving feedback. As a result, they will readily give you a simple “yes” or “no” when given the opportunity, and you shouldn’t allow them that.

A question always sets the parameters of the feedback—and wide open parameters tend to be far more useful. Open-ended questions are very good at inviting another to share her point of view, provide constructive feedback, or even problem-solving feedback.

Over the years, I’ve learned to test my questions. Not only do I catch myself asking dead-end questions, but I’d be willing to bet that 95% of the time we all automatically ask dead-end questions. The weakness of yes/no or dead-end questions is that they give the respondent only two options, both of which are of little value. If the subject is important, I want quality information to support constructive feedback. I cannot achieve that with dead-end questions

Posted by Dan Erwin, Dan Erwin is a nationally recognized management consultant, having coached more than 400 managers and executives from many of the finest corporations in the world, including an extensive client base from the Fortune 500.

Tags: Questions

Imagine There’s No Performance Reviews, It’s Easy If You Try

Posted by Nathaniel Rottenberg, Community Marketing

7680 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/09/imagine-theres-no-performance-reviews-its-easy-if-you-try/Imagine+There%E2%80%99s+No+Performance+Reviews%2C+It%E2%80%99s+Easy+If+You+Try2009-04-09+20%3A31%3A39Nathaniel+Rottenberg

13 Things You May Not Know About Rypple

Posted by David Priemer, Product & Community

7500 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/02/13-things-you-may-not-know-about-rypple/13+Things+You+May+Not+Know+About+Rypple2009-04-02+14%3A20%3A38David+Priemer

In this latest installment of the Rypple Effect, we thought we’d share some things you may not know about the Rypple team:

1. Because Rypple is a lean /agile shop, we release a new batch of Rypple features at least once a week (sometimes more often!)

2. Users in 96 countries use Rypple to ask questions in 49 different languages

3. We don’t have an automated phone system at Rypple. When you call us, you will always speak to a live person.

4. 4 members of the Rypple team are published authors and on average, each of us has 2 university degrees (yes, we know we’re total nerds!)

5. We use Rypple every day to solicit feedback from each other and our users!

6. The Rypple team has 5734 total combined Twitter followers

7. End-user satisfaction is paramount to us! Our prime directive is for you to find your Rypple experience truly delightful and valuable. If it isn’t, tell us!

8. Rypple is built using the Java Enterprise Edition platform for robustness and scalability, and the Google Web Toolkit for rich UIs

9. Many of us suffer from L.E.S. (especially late at night)

10. The entire Rypple team meets every morning for a daily stand-up

11. The Personal Edition of  Rypple is totally free. Rypple Enterprise is a subscription based service that provides additional features to companies.

12. Our users can help each other out by adding Suggested Questions to our community pages. Post your questions & photos and see what questions others are asking! (requires login)

13. We LOVE connecting with our users! Call us anytime (don’t worry, we’ll answer the phone! – see #3)

The Baggage We Bring to Work Each Day

Posted by Ben Dattner, a workplace consultant, an industrial and organizational psychologist, and an adjunct professor at New York University.

7440 commentshttp://rypple.com/blog/2009/04/01/the-baggage-we-bring-to-work-each-day/The+Baggage+We+Bring+to+Work+Each+Day2009-04-01+14%3A49%3A16Ben+Dattner

Henry Ford reportedly once complained that all he wanted from a worker was a pair of hands, but that he had to deal with the whole person instead. Each of us brings our whole self to work each day, regardless of whether we have a chance to express and actualize ourselves in our jobs.

As much as we might like to believe we can adapt our personality or our style as needed at work, to an outside observer, we are likely to have many of the same strengths and weaknesses in the workplace that we have outside of it. Whether we suffer at home or at work from a lack of assertiveness or from too much confidence, whether we are accommodating peacemakers or contentious resisters, or whether we are supportive and empathic or businesslike and formal, who we are in our personal lives is inextricably linked to who we are in the workplace. And who we are in our personal lives and in our professional lives is always a function, at least in part, of our early life experience.

As an executive coach, one of my most important roles is to help my clients understand what they are bringing to work each day. I often find that people use language to describe bosses or co-workers that sounds as if they are describing parents or siblings. For example, bosses can be “supportive” or “”critical” and peers can be “competitive” or “favored.” There are times when someone’s early life experience is clearly affecting his or her interactions and causing relationship difficulties in the workplace.

Confusing Underlings With Siblings

For example, consider the story of a successful finance professional who was having difficulty managing his team. A brilliant technical expert, he did not enjoy supervising others and was widely resented by those who reported directly to him for his curt and brusque answers to their questions. In the course of our work together, he realized his direct reports were bringing back to him childhood memories of having been distracted and discouraged by his siblings, who lacked his academic talent and usually bothered him with requests for assistance with their homework.

By realizing that he was having a kind of flashback and was viewing his present direct reports through the prism of his past experience, this finance guy developed greater patience with his staff. Although he never fully embraced the role of manager, he was able to foster a sense of loyalty and cohesion on his team.

It’s not only sibling relationships that provide an unconscious framework within which workplace relationships and interactions are evaluated. I’ve also worked with many clients for whom parental relationships provide a template for boss-subordinate relationships. Much of our identity and sense of self can be either helped or hindered by our bosses, in a manner strikingly similar to how our parents either encouraged or discouraged us as children.

Whether or not we like to admit it, our self-esteem can be profoundly affected by the positive or negative regard of our superiors in the workplace, and they can confirm our hopes or our fears about ourselves every day. One client described how much more important it was that his boss viewed him as competent and valued than it was to get a salary increase.

Opposite Problem

Despite having seen many examples of people who have the same issues at home and at work, I have also come across clients who have quite different issues at home and at work; sometimes it even seems that they are opposite issues. An attorney who may be energetically contentious in the courtroom can be calm and friendly with her friends. An overachieving research scientist can forget to balance his checkbook at the end of every month.

However, I find that even in situations where someone has opposite issues at home and in the workplace, the fundamental character issues are related. In fact, the expression of opposite attributes at home and in the workplace makes a kind of sense—things that are overused in one area of life may be underused in another, or in order to compensate for a lack of opportunities to express part of your character at home, you might express it in the workplace.

Whether you are the same person at work and at home, or whether you experience and express different aspects of yourself in your personal life than you do in your professional life, you should consider how your early life experiences provide a prism from the past through which you are evaluating situations in the present.